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Nothing of consequence
Mar. 8th, 2019 11:29 amI recently made my first ever rag quilt. I wanted to make something special for Jim's first grand daughter and had been intrigued by these simple looking quilts. My days of making pieced and hand quilted projects are unfortunately over. Since retiring I have discovered that my eyesight is just not what it used to be. Also my patience. I am frustrated threading the needle on my sewing machine which BTW come equipped with a built-in needle threader. I finally broke down and bought a little gadget called a Sidewinder since I have so much trouble getting bobbins to wind correctly.
OK back to my topic. I pinned many examples of rag quilts on Pinterest as well as watched several tutorial videos. The fun part was fabric shopping. I chose to purchase three layers of flannel to cut up into squares. Since I wanted it a little bit girly I selected pink flamingo fabric for the backing, lime green for the flannel used as batting, and many designs that might appeal to the family for the top. (Bikes, sinces her dad is an avid bicyclist, mermaids, blue fairies, plaids, solids, pea pods with the label "sweet pea", teddy bears in the style of illustrations from old children's books). Colors included: pale pink, hot pink, lime, turquoise, aqua, periwinkle blue, cobalt blue.
I cut tons of squares not knowing exactly how many I'd want to use. Then discovered my sewing machine didn't sew well through 3 flannel layers. Lots of fiddling, help from visiting sister, and a trip to Sew Pro store and all is well. Next laid out squares for design. Sewed together. Snipped edges everywhere and washed several times in Dreft and dried. Kind of a mess with shredded lint everywhere. When sufficiently fluffed I next trimmed threads where needed and brushed off lint. So... I CAN sew and I'm pretty proud of the result.
OK back to my topic. I pinned many examples of rag quilts on Pinterest as well as watched several tutorial videos. The fun part was fabric shopping. I chose to purchase three layers of flannel to cut up into squares. Since I wanted it a little bit girly I selected pink flamingo fabric for the backing, lime green for the flannel used as batting, and many designs that might appeal to the family for the top. (Bikes, sinces her dad is an avid bicyclist, mermaids, blue fairies, plaids, solids, pea pods with the label "sweet pea", teddy bears in the style of illustrations from old children's books). Colors included: pale pink, hot pink, lime, turquoise, aqua, periwinkle blue, cobalt blue.
I cut tons of squares not knowing exactly how many I'd want to use. Then discovered my sewing machine didn't sew well through 3 flannel layers. Lots of fiddling, help from visiting sister, and a trip to Sew Pro store and all is well. Next laid out squares for design. Sewed together. Snipped edges everywhere and washed several times in Dreft and dried. Kind of a mess with shredded lint everywhere. When sufficiently fluffed I next trimmed threads where needed and brushed off lint. So... I CAN sew and I'm pretty proud of the result.
