In regards to quilting, among the simplest quilts to make is a Rag-Design Cotton Quilt. Unlike traditional quilting, these kinds of quilts are quilted as you make them and they've exposed outer seams that you snip after you're done sewing them to make it fringe. After laundering, it rags that leads to your quilts country charm. This post will teach you how to make Amish Quilt designs.
For this kind of quilt, I selected to work in conventional Amish colored system with solid black material together with a solid colored cloth. All the materials used are cotton as they rag and fray the greatest. You do not need to use polyester or nylon-fusion kind of materials in these kinds of quilts.
Supplies Needed:
About 7-8 Yards of Cotton Cloths
2 Bundles Warm and Natural Cotton Batting
Scissors
Fiskars (tm) Rag Quilt Snipping Scissors
Sewing Machine and Fundamental Sewing Equipment
Rotary Cutter, Mat, and Rule
Seam Allowances: I utilized a 3/4" seam allowance while making this rag quilt.
Completed Throw Quilt Size: 15 rows by 19 rows. (In other words, I 've 15 squares in my flat rows and 19 squares in my personal longitude rows).
Preparation: Wash and dry your cloths before beginning. If needed, iron them when they get wrinkled.
Cutting Material: I cut my material down to 4" sized squares using my rotary cutter. Make an effort to make the squares an exact 4" in size. You'll require a total of 570 squares that will make 285 blocks. (2 cloth squares make up 1 block).
Cutting The Cotton Batting: You need your batting squares to be smaller than your cloth squares, mine measure 3" square. You'll need one batting square for every material square so that you are in need of a total of 285 cotton batting squares.
Measure 1: You must make your cloth squares by layering a piece of cotton batting between to cloth squares. The right side of your material will soon be facing out and the batting will soon be indoors. Take advantage of your sewing machine and sew an X through each square. You do that by going from the top left corner and down to the bottom right corner. Then turn your square and do the different side. It should resemble an X design on the center of your square. I leave 3/4" of an inch un-sewn at each corner. You'll do this for all 285 squares.
Measure 2: Clear off a sizable table or make use of a clean flooring. Lay out all of your sewn cloth squares in a pattern or design that you just enjoy. For the design which I picked, I switched between black along with a colored square. (see picture)
Measure 3: Using a 3/4" seam allowance, so your squares together in horizontal rows.
Measure 4: Using a 3/4" seam allowance, sew all of your flat rows together. As your quilt increases in size, it becomes slightly hard to hold and pull via your sewing machine...if desired, work it in 3 sections and after that sew the 3 segments together to make it even more manageable.
Step 5: Once you've all your rows together, you should have a rectangular throw quilt. You should load it back into your sewing machine and go around all 4 sides with a 3/4" seam allowance. Eventually...all your stitching is finished.
Completing Your Throw Quilt: To complete your rag-design throw quilt, you must snip all your seams...you have to be SOMEWHAT careful to not throw any of you sewn lines/seams. In the event you do not possess a pair of the Fiskars (tm) rag quilt snippers, I highly recommend that you get a pair as they're easier on your hands than scissors. (Yet, you should use standard sharp fabric scissors also). This next snipping measure for will take a number of years, so sit down with a cup of coffee and place a picture on. Using scissors, you should snip/cut all your seams to make the periphery. I like to cut mine every 1/4" and the nearer together you cut them, the more your quilt will fray and rag when you launder it. You'll do it on all the seams and about the outer edges of your quilt.
Washing The Quilt: Now it's time to make it all raggedy. I wash and dry mine 2 whole cycles. Place your quilt into the washer with a tiny laundry detergent and some fabric softener and wash it on the regular cycle. Once it's done, dry it in the drier after which replicate the washing and drying again.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Your quilts will lose a huge amount of threads and lint during the washing and drying procedure for the very first couple of cycles. You have to wash your lint traps often, particularly while drying them. I set a timer and assess my dryer lint trap every 10 minutes as I do not need to catch anything on fire. As soon as they've been laundered several times, the shedding will cease.
The further you wash and dry your raggedy quilts, the softer they'll become. Love your new quilt with Amish quilt designs!