Diagonal Rag Quilt as You Go

Sewing Scooby Snack Rating:

 

Jen and I have a margarita scale for our projects. This one is  not to bad except for the constant squaring up your blanket. 2  margarita’s allowed!!

Supplies:

• sewing machine
• 5-6 yards flannel 1 yard of each pattern of your choice
• matching thread
• universal sewing needles
• clear ruler and cutting board
• rotary quilting cutter
• scissors

I wanted to give you a variation on the Rag Quilt so I have started a new project and I will tell you what I am doing as I go along.

Pick 5 or 6 different fabrics. I have a yard of each here. I had to buy more navy blue because I wanted to have a very fluffy blanket and I put a 3rd piece of flannel between all my strips. This is the shadowy dominant color that comes through once clipped.

Ok so I cut strips of fabric in my 6 different colors in 4 different width strips so not only do you have a visual appealing palette of 6 colors you also have variation of strip widths to play with.  As I finish a few rows I clip the seams so I can see how “purdy” it’s turning out.

As you can see I use my ruler and find my angle and trim as I go along it helps to see how long your next strip has to be. usually the strip needs to be 1 1/2 inches longer than the previous strip on the top and 3 -4 inches long on the bottom depending on the width of the strip you are using.

Coming along 🙂

Here I am trimming this 90 degree angle to work on the second half of this quilt.

Ok so now you continue with your different color and different size strips until you are done the quilt. Keep using your ruler to even up your quilt.

Like so

I took a blanket binding and laid it down to see if I would like to bind it with this. I decided against it.

Now you have to sew around the perimeter of your blanket using the same seam allowance you have been using for the blanket. I have been using 3/4 inch.

Finish clipping all seams.  After you finished that the fun part is throwing your blanket in the washing machine. BEWARE the blanket will shed a lot!

Ok now I will talk about my challenges. The blanket becomes very heavy and sewing long strips with the blanket unsupported (my sewing table is too small) the strips started to curve with the weight.

I gave it a few good tugs in the opposite direction to true it up like you would with a piece of fabric when you are straightening the grain.  I did not use a long ruler to make sure my blanket was square and this was a huge mistake for me, in order to even the blanket up I ended up cutting off a lot of my hard work. @#$%### time for a SCOOBY

Ok after pulling my hair out and trying to chill out over that over-site I threw it in the washing machine and dryer.

It turned out pretty good. NOW COMES EVERYONE’S FAVORITE PART  Take your favorite lint brush and  !!!!  Brush your quilt, and brush and brush and brush and brush and….you guessed it brush some more. Give it a good shake and repeat the brushing a few more times. I even like to use a lint shaver to get the flannel looking brand new.

Jen once asked me:

 I’ve tried so hard to get the fuzzy, pilly bits off with a lint roller but it’s like throwing rocks into the Grand Canyon, futile at best.  Any tricks on what to do?

Answer to this great question:

Take your favorite lint brush and  !!!!  Brush your quilt, and brush and brush and brush and brush and….you guessed it brush some more. Give it a good shake and repeat the brushing a few more times. Also use a lint shaver!!

Have fun