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How to Make A Rag Quilt

What Better Way To Make Use Of All That Scrap Material You Have Just Lying Around.
Why Not Turn It Into Something Beautiful And Lasting!


Rag quilts are fun and easy to make. Not only are they fun for the quilter, but often the person who receives the quilt has never seen a rag quilt before and will love the uniqueness of it.

One of the great things about rag quilts is that there are several ways to convert traditional quilt or quilt block patterns into rag quilts.

Take a simple 5-patch quilt block pattern, enlarged each patch so it was 8 inches square and make a rag quilt.

Almost any quilt block will work, although simple blocks are the easiest to convert. Once you have your block chosen, decide what size to make each patch.

Most rag quilts are made using 8-inch or 10-inch squares (finished size).

In my example, the quilt block was created by placing specific colors in 25 squares in the block. Each block in my rag quilt was 8 inches (finished size), so a block which might normally be 10 inches square, all of a sudden became a small quilt that was 40 inches square.

Of course, you could make it even larger by increasing each block to 10 inches finished size.

This is just one way to convert a traditional quilt or quilt block pattern into a rag quilt.

Other ideas include:

* Piece your individual quilt blocks as if they were traditional blocks and then sew the blocks together as a rag quilt, creating fringe between each block.

* Create a frayed appliqué on a quilt block

* Make a strip rag quilt

Let's begin

  1. Place the seams to open the jeans, and then cut them into 7-inch squares. Minor holes, paint drippings, stains, seams, pockets and any other irregularities I allow for the durable masculine effect. With a hunk of brown plaid fabric (or color and print of your choice) for the back, cut squares the same size.
  2. Quilt batting can be trimmed to around 5 1/2-inch squares.
  3. Layering plaid fabric right-side down, denim block face-up with batting sandwiched between, machine-quilt the blocks (for the plain blocks I like to stich a 5-point star, while the blocks with seams or pockets, I stitch randomly to emphasize irregularities).
  4. Placing brown sides together (denim sides out), stitch the blocks with a 1/2-inch seam allowance, making strips the length of the quilt. Iron seams (either open, or to alternating sides), and then sew strips together--brown sides matching, of course.
  5. With a sharp pair of scissors, put a snip at approximately 1-inch intervals along the seam allowance being careful to not snip into the stitching, and there's the finished product of a rag quilt.

Always pre-wash your fabric - for many reasons:
  1. To remove all of the sizing and make the fabric easier to handle
  2. To make sure that none of your fabric will shrink in your quilt. Sometimes some pieces shrink while others don't, causing puckers
  3. The color bleeds out of some fabric, and pre-washing prevents the fabric from bleeding into other fabric in your quilt. (It's very sad when the beautiful red bleeds into the nice, crisp white!)
  4. To remove all of the chemicals that people might be sensitive to. 

What are the best fabrics for making a rag quilt?
  • Flannels make soft, cuddly rag quilts.
  • Homespuns fray wonderfully and their plaids and stripes offer a country look.
  • Denim rag quilts can be very heavy -- while you're sewing them and when they're used as a cover. Reduce the load a bit by sewing with a lightweight denim, or by using denim for the front of the quilt and flannel or regular quilting cottons on its back. You might even decide that two layers are plenty, and omit the batting altogether.
  • Avoid polyester blends -- they don't fray very well.
Quilting cottons can be used, but the frays won't be as lush as flannel frays.

Some quilters use low-loft cotton batting in rag quilts. It takes longer to use that method and quilting is necessary to keep the fibers intact.

No quilting is necessary if you use flannel or another fabric for batting, because they remain stable in the quilt.

How to Use Batting:

Use a cotton or mostly cotton batting, making sure it's a type that doesn't require close quilting stitches. Cut the batting so that it's a little smaller than the finished size of the top and backing pieces. For example, our 10-inch squares finish at 9-inches since we're using a 1/2" seam allowance on each side of each piece. Cut batting pieces that are about 8-1/2" square and sandwich them between your top and backing. The extra half-inch we're shaving off the square gives you a little more flexibility when centering the batting, because you don't want it to end up within the seam allowance.

Secure the packet with straight pins and machine sew a diagonal seam from one corner of the square to the opposite corner. Repeat to sew along the other diagonal, creating an "X" with quilting stitches.

The "X" isn't mandatory -- it's just fast. You can do other types of quilting. Read your batting label to find out how closely stitches should be placed. One more thing, avoid placing lots of quilting in the seam allowances, because you want those areas to be as stitch free as possible to encourage fraying.

How to Wash Your Rag Quilt:

Wash the rag quilt in a long wash cycle. I use a delicate cycle because rougher agitation doesn't seam to make the clips fray more. I usually put a bit of soap in the wash, because it seems to help the edges fray. That could be my imagination, so use plain water if you prefer.

Inspect the quilt between the wash and rinse cycles. Did you forget to clip seams? Clip them now, before the rinse. Put the quilt into the dryer when the cycle is finished. Remove when dry and clip away loose threads if necessary.
Step-by-Step Guide for Making a Rag Quilt





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