How to make rag quilts

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A rag quilt is a quilt that is made up of fabric pieces that have an exposed seam on the front of the quilt and the traditional seam on the back side of the quilt. The rag quilt will have a batting inside of the quilt with the front and backsides in fabric. The making of the quilt is made differently than traditional quilts and use a number of different fabrics.

The best fabric used for quilts are flannels, cottons and even denim. If you want, you can make the quilt with all of the fabric choices. The flannel fabric is primarily used for creating a quilt that is soft and cuddly. This would be a good choice for a quilt that you make for a child or someone who needs something soft to snuggle with.

The first thing that you need to know is that a rag quilt is made with seams that are a half inch. This should be the standard but you can use a wider seam if you want but try it before setting your mind on the seam size.

You will need to begin with setting up a 10 inch backing square first on the right side down of the quilting table. Next you will want to center the flannel backing square in the same size or maybe even just a small tad smaller on the top of the backing square you are using. The square for the flannel should be placed right side up and then slide a couple of straight pins in place to hold the pieces of fabric together. Make all of your squares the same way. Once you have enough in place to create the quilt, line them up.

Once all the pieces are lined up, you will sow them together by creating horizontal rows of fabric quilting pieces. You will place the rows back to back to sew them together which then can be sewn. Keep this same pace up for the remainder of the quilt.

The next step is to clip the squares of the quilt. This can be done with spring loaded scissors that will open each time you make a clip. Once you have done this, you will next need to take and wash the rag quilt. Once the quilt is washed, the pieces of fabric will fray on their own and will make the quilt look like the traditional rag quilt.