Rag Quilting Tutorial --- Part Five

Welcome to the final rag quilting post.   This quilt is 54 inches across and 72 inches long.   A little big for a lap quilt but wonderful to cuddle up in on a winter evening watching TV.    It is so big I couldn't get the whole thing in the picture.   This covers almost the whole of the top of my queen size mattress.    I also forgot to mention this block is called the Shoo Fly Block and originated around 1850.

There is one final step you need to do when you have all your blocks sewn together. 

Sew all around the outside edge in a 3/4 inch seam and then clip the seam for fringe. 

To completely finish your quilt you can either get it wet in the washer and then dry it in the dryer so the fringe will curl.    Or you can just spray the fringed seams with water and then throw it in the dryer.

I didn't do that yet with my quilt because it is not finished.   I am making this into a queen size bed quilt.
I hope you enjoyed following along with me and are busy making your own lap quilt.

Bette Shaw
www.byyourhands.com

Rag Quilting Tutorial --- Part Four

Welcome to part four of my rag quilting tutorial.   Today I want to give you some figures so that you can decide what size quilt you would like to make.

 You may find you would like to continue on and make a bed size quilt because these larger blocks make the quilting go a lot faster.    The finished large blocks should measure 19 1/2 inches.   When the blocks are sewn together they will measure 18 inches.

Small Lap quilt will take 2 blocks across and 3 blocks down   =   36 inches x 54 inches

Large Lap quilt will take 3 blocks across and 4 blocks down  =    54 inches x 72 inches

Twin Bed quilt will take 4 blocks across and 5 blocks down   =     72 inches x 90 inches

Full Bed quilt  will take 5 blocks across and 5 blocks down    =     90 inches x 90 inches

Queen Bed quilt  will take 5 blocks across and 6 blocks down  =    90 inches x 108 inches

King Bed quilt will take 6 blocks across and 6 blocks down   =    108 inches x 108 inches

From approximately one yard of flannel you can cut the backings for two of the large blocks.   You might be able to get a few more squares from continuous yardage.    I have been cutting the backing pieces out as time permits but I don't have all of them cut out so I can't give exact yardages. 

I was only able to finish one more block this week.

I pinned it together with the first block.  Then sewed them together in a 3/4 inch seam. 

And here is the finished section.

I hope to have a finshed lap quilt size to show you next week.    If you have been following along and have a finished lap quilt done,  we would love to see it.    Just email me through our contact form at the top of the blog and let me know.  

Thanks for visiting today,   Bette

Rag Quilting Tutorial --- Part Three

Welcome to part three of my rag quilting tutorial. You should have all your individual blocks sewn now and be ready to sew them together into one large block.

Here is the center of the large block.    Your one dark block is in the middle with a light block on both sides.

 Pin the blocks together along the side.   Remember your seams will be on the outside so the back sides of the blocks will be together.    Sew the seams with a 3/4 inch seam allowance.

Next cut the clips from the sides and cut the seam for fringe like you did last week

This is what your row should look like.

The other two rows are made the same way.   The two triangle blocks are on the outside and the light color block is in the middle.    Pin the seams together just like you did the last row.  Stitch the seams and then cut the clips out of the end of the rows and cut the seam for fringe.

You now have three finished rows.   Lay them out like this.

Then you are going to pin the two long rows together.   Sew them with a 3/4 inch seam allowance.   This is where all that corner clipping comes in handy now because you will be sewing over  the seams now.    It is much easier to sew these rows together with all that bulk eliminated.

You will need to treat these two long seams the same way you did all the others.  Cut the clips out of the two ends of the rows and clip the seam for fringe.

And this is what the finished block will look like.

This will look a lot nicer once it has been washed and dried because the fringe will curl under.

Well,  that is the first block of the quilt.   You will need to make 12 of these large blocks to make a lap quilt.
Next week I will show you how to sew the blocks together and have the dimensions of the finished quilt for you.

Thanks for joining me again this week.
Bette
www.byyourhands.com

Do you have a special skill you would like to share with our readers?   If you would like to do a tutorial of your own on our blog,  please email me at byyourhandsblog@gmail.com    

Rag Quilting Tutorial --- Part Two

Welcome to part two of my rag quilting tutorial.    If you are following along with me you should have all the pieces for your first block cut out and the individual blocks pinned together.

This week I will show you how to machine quilt the blocks.    This is done to hold all your block layers together.     If you can sew a straight line,  you can do this.
     First we will sew all the squares.    You will be sewing an X on the block by sewing from corner to corner.
It is not necessary to backstitch these seams as you will be sewing over them when the blocks are sewn together. 
The blue lines on the block indicate the sewing lines.   Sew all five of your blocks like this.

Next are the triangles.     First you will sew a line from the middle of the long side of the triangle to the point.
Then sew across the triangle as shown in the picture.    Repeat for all the triangles.

Now we need to sew the triangles together.     You should have four of each value,  dark fabric and medium fabric.   
You will be sewing a dark and medium together.

   All seam widths from now on will be 3/4 of an inch wide.  The seams will be sewn on the right side of the blocks and will be clipped into fringe.

Pin the triangles together.  The blue line indicates the stitching line.   Sew across the triangles 3/4 inch in from the edge of the fabric.   These seams I do backstitch at the beginning and end of the seam.

I always clip my seams as I sew the blocks.   Some sewers do all their clipping after the quilt is completely sewn but I feel this is the best way to do it because your seams are easier to see and your hands will thank you for breaking this very tiring job up.  
And before,  we clip the seam I want to show you the scissors I use for rag quilting.   They are special made for this purpose and they are really easy to use and easy on your hands.    I have tried other rag quilting scissors and these are my favorites.    For a part time rag quilter,  regular scissors will work just fine.    These are for someone who does a lot of rag quilting as they are pricey but worth it to save the wear and tear on your hands if you do it alot.    Joann's Fabric runs them on sale every so often for half price and that is when I bought mine.  

Okay,  now we are going to work on the triangle seam.    The first thing I do when I clip the seams is to cut a piece away from the corners.  Doing this will eliminate a lot of bulk and make it easier to sew through many layers.  Measure in 3/4 of an inch from the side.    Staying at least 1/16 inch away from your seam line,  you are going to cut that corner away.

 Repeat for the other side.

Now we will clip the seam for fringe.    You will be making approx. 1/4 inch cuts into the seam.   Make sure you stay at least 1/16 inch away from your seam line.  

Here is what your finished block will look like.

Sew the rest of the triangles together in the same way.   You will end up with four of these blocks.
Next week we will sew all the blocks together to make the first large block of our quilt.

Thanks for visiting today.   See you next week with part three.
Bette

Do you have a special skill you would like to share?    If you  would like to do a tutorial for By Your Hands,  please email us at byyourhandsblog@gmail.com or use our contact form at the top of the blog.     Alll tutorial contributors will have their logo permanently placed on our Crafty Guests page.

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