Rag Quilting Tutorial ---Part One

This week we are going to start cutting out our pieces for the first block of our quilt.

You will need a backing fabric, cotton batting and dark, medium and light value fabrics.

First you will need to download the two pattern pieces for the quilt, a square and a triangle. The pattern pieces include a 3/4 inch seam allowance.

The pdfs for the pattern pieces can be downloaded here.   Pattern One.   and    Pattern Two.

Print them out twice.
Take one set and mark a 1/2 inch all around the edges of the pattern pieces. Then trim this 1/2 inch off the patterns. These will be used to cut only the batting out.

You will need to cut out 8 batting triangles and 5 batting squares.

With the other set of  pattern pieces you will cut out 1 dark square, 4 light squares, 4 dark triangles and 4 medium value triangles.

Then you will need to cut out 5 squares and 8 triangles from the backing fabric.

Now that our pieces for the quilt square are cut out,  I will walk you through putting together your quilt sandwich or block.  Rag quilting blocks are composed of a backing, batting and fabric piece that is sewn together and then the blocks are sewn together.

   Take 1 backing square and lay it down with the wrong side of the fabric facing up.  Then center one of the batting squares on top of this.

Now lay the fabric square on top with the right side of the fabric facing up.   Pin all three layers together.  Repeat for all 5 squares.

Now take a triangle backing fabric,  lay it down with the wrong side of the fabric facing up.   Place a batting triangle on top.

Now place a fabric triangle on top with right side of fabric facing up.  Pin all three layers  together.   Repeat for all 8 of the triangles.

You should have all the blocks for the quilt square ready to sew now.

Next week we will begin sewing our blocks.  Before I go  I want to recommend a tool that I use when I sew rag quilts together.    It is called a walking foot and what it does is feed your fabric evenly so that your block stays together as you sew.   They are pricey but worth it if you make a lot of rag quilted items.   

Some sewing machines have a feed attachment built in like Pfaff and some other newer machines.

See you next week with part two.
Bette