Rag Quilt Instructions

In an earlier posting I talked about making another "Rag time" or Rag quilt. I mentioned that it would be the ideal first quilt to make. This quilt is ideal for several reasons. First, there is no handwork, and second; accuracy is not as critical as in most quilts. Basic to this quilt, is that the seams are all one inch, and are open to the quilt top. Since the seams are open to the quilt top and will fray, any accuracy problems in the blocks assembly is covered up. You do have to use a walking foot on all seams. Photo #1 shows the pieces of the rag quilt square. The red is my back piece. The plaid is the top piece. The white is the batting or the middle of the "sandwich". The batting piece will always be smaller than the back and top pieces. In this case my squares are 7 inches, and the batting is 4 3/4 inches square.

Photo #2 shows the assembly of the rag quilt square sandwich. The red back piece is flannel side down. The batting or middle piece is centered on the back piece. The plaid top piece is aligned to the red back piece, flannel side up.

Pin the sandwich together and sew through the sandwich corner to corner. Start and stop your stitch line about 3/4 to 1 inch from the corners of the square. Out of habit, I lock the stitches in with a few back stitches. Photo #3 shows the finished rag quilt square.

Some tips: If this is your first time at making a quilt square, take your time. Relax, this is not a race against the clock nor a race against the cold weather. This is supposed to be fun, hopefully not a necessity like it might have been with great grand paw.