Learn How To Make A Rag Quilt – The EASIEST Beginner Quilt
The Easiest Beginner Quilt
Do you want to learn how to make a rag quilt? It is one of the EASIEST quilts you can make, plus everyone will love it. You can make a quick baby quilt, or make a larger size for yourself. I was lucky to use Day Dream, Patty Basemi’s first line of fabric for Art Gallery Fabrics.
WHAT YOU NEED to make a Rag Quilt
To make a rag quilt, you will need fabric, batting, a sewing machine, thread, and scissors. I will give you fabric requirements for 2 sizes of Rag Quilts: a baby size and a lap size.
FABRIC FOR BABY SIZE RAG QUILT (30″ x 40″)
1 ? yards of decorative fabric OR you can use fabric from your stash. You only need (48) 6″ squares total for your front fabric. This is a great way to use your stash!
1 ? yards for backing fabric.
30″ x 40″ piece of batting, or (48) 5″ squares of batting.
FABRIC FOR LAP SIZE RAG QUILT (50″ x 60″)
3 3/8 yards of decorative fabric OR you can use fabric from your stash.
3 3/8 yards for backing fabric.
50″ x 60″ piece of batting, or (120) 5″ squares of batting.
Cutting Fabric for Rag Quilt
BABY (6 blocks x 8 blocks) – 30″ x 40″
- Cut (48) 6″ squares from backing fabric
- Cut (48) 6″ squares from decorative front fabric
- Cut (48) 5″ squares from batting
LAP (10 blocks x 12 blocks) – 50″ x 60″
- Cut (120) 6″ squares from backing fabric
- Cut (120) 6″ squares from decorative front fabric
- Cut (120) 5″ squares from batting
Sewing Fabrics for Rag Quilt
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- Layer (1) backing square, wrong side up, (1) batting square, and (1) decorative front square, right side up. Place the fabrics wrong side together so that the decorative parts of the fabric face out. Take care to center the batting.
Sew an ‘X’ from corner to corner on your fabric sandwich from step 1.
- Layer (1) backing square, wrong side up, (1) batting square, and (1) decorative front square, right side up. Place the fabrics wrong side together so that the decorative parts of the fabric face out. Take care to center the batting.
- Repeat this for all of your fabric sandwich squares. (48) Total for baby size. (120) Total for lap size.
Making Rows for Rag Quilt
- Place (2) fabric sandwich squares together with the backing fabric touching. This is different from most other quilts, as you will have your finished seams on the front of the quilt. I made the mistake of sewing my squares with the decorative fabrics touching. See my photo below of how that turned out.
This shows the backing fabrics touching.
This shows the backing fabrics touching.
Here you can see where I have the seams going to the BACK of the quilt. I had to unpick this and redo them so the seams came to the front of the quilt.
- Sew one side of the squares together with a ½” seam allowance. Open. Your seam is facing the front of your quilt, which is exactly what you want.
- Keep adding additional squares, one at a time, with backing fabrics touching, to make (1) long row. All seams should be on the front of the quilt, sticking out.
- Baby: sew 8 rows of 6 blocks.
- Lap: Sew 12 rows of 10 blocks.
Making Quilt Top for Rag Quilt
- Pin (2) rows with backing fabric touching. Place pins at each corner to make sure the corners match. Seams should go in opposite directions, but you don’t need to worry too much about this. This quilt is very forgiving when it comes to which direction your seams go.
- Sew row together with ½” seam allowance. Open. Your seams should be facing the front of your quilt.
- Keep sewing rows together with backing fabric touching to make the quilt.
- Sew all around the outside edge of your quilt using a ½” seam allowance.
- Take scissors and cut your seams on the front of your quilt. Make sure to stop at the seam and do not cut onto the quilt top.
I spaced my snips about ½” apart, but you do not need to measure. Just use your eye and whatever distance apart you prefer.
- When all seams have been cut, wash and dry your rag quilt.
- Enjoy your fluffy fraying rag quilt!
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Terry
Thank you for sharing such complete instructions. I have made several.
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Anonymous
How wonderful! I’m sure it turned out beautifully! Thank you for sharing! –Elizabeth
Jeannette Gainey
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I finished my very first quilt (other than a small hand sewn quilt I made for my granddaughters doll). It turned out beautifully. I wish I knew how to upload a picture.
Anonymous
I recently read that rayon is NOT recommended for rag quilts because it doesn’t fray like cotton, denim or flannel. You might want to research this further before investing lots of time in making a whole quilt—-like experiment with a placemat size piece and see what happens.
Anonymous
Seersucker would be so cute! Lucky you!
Renee
Your thoughts on using seersucker for the front and flannel for the back ( I have a ton of material that was given to me and would like to use it up…???
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Amber Goudreau
How much yardage do you get of each pattern, and how many patterns? Thanks!
Anonymous
I just made my first rag quilt from you pattern! Thanks for your ideas. I did go and buy Fiskars rag quilt snips for my next ones. They do cut so much easier ! Your directions were GREAT
Elizabeth Chappell
AnonymousYay!! I’m so glad you found the directions helpful!
Ella
I have made tons of rag quilts and if I may share a few tips…
Get yourself a good pair of rag snips. They are so much easier and better for your hands than scissors. They are spring loaded and really help a lot when clipping all those seams.
Also, when you first wash and dry rag quilts they will produce a LOT of fluff and lint, especially if you use flannel like I do. Before the first washing, shake vigorously outside to dislodge some of the lint, then place in washer along with an old towel or two. Wash twice, both times on the short wash. Between washes, shake outside again and before placing in the dryer. Stop your dryer about halfway through the cycle and empty the lint trap, then finish drying. These quilts will produce lots of lint for several washings and dryings, but it will stop eventually.
Hope these hints and ideas help. I love rage quilting and I hope you all do too. Happy quilting!
Elizabeth Chappell
EllaGreat tips Ella!! Thank you!!
Connie
Hi, I have a bunch of rayon prints I want to use to make a rag quilt but don’t know what to use for batting. Not sure if warm and natural will shrink the same as rayon. Do you know?
Elizabeth Chappell
ConnieThat’s a good question! I don’t usually sew with rayon, so I’m not sure how it shrinks. I’m sorry I’m not more help!
Linda
Do you have any idea if making a rag quilt with bandanas would work? I know the sewed edge would need trimmed off, but do you think they would fray out right, if I did that? Also not sure if bandanas are too thin of a material to work well or not? I’ve been thinking of trying it, but thought someone may know if it turns out or not…
I made a rag quilt with flanned before and I love it. I really like the way they look 🙂
Elizabeth Chappell
LindaHmm – that’s a great question! I’ve not tried so I’m not sure. You could give it a try and see how it goes, let us know!
Carla
In the tutorial you’ve shown, did you use flannel fabric and cotton batting? This looks very doable for my daughter and me. Thanks for a clear and easy to follow tutorial!
QuiltersCandy
CarlaI’m so glad you enjoyed the tutorial! I used both quilting cottong for the front and back of this quilt, but you could totally use flannel. I also used wool batting, but again, you can go with cotton, too. I hope that helps! And I hope you and your daughter get to make one of these together. How fun!
Ella
CarlaI almost always use flannel for my rag quilts. It rags up so much softer and better I think. I do sometimes use regular quilting cotton front and back if I just love the fabrics, but I’m always the most happy with the look and softness of a rag quilt when I use flannel.
And my rule of thumb is… if I use flannel on the front and cotton on the back, I do use cotton batting in the middle (or I use white flannel in place of the batting for the middle). If I use flannel for both front and back I usually do not use a middle layer.
Patricia Thornton
How can I order the rag quilt pattern for baby?
QuiltersCandy
Patricia ThorntonHi there! I don’t actually sell the pattern, but all the information you need should be found in the blog article above. I list the needed fabric for the baby size quilt. Let me know if that helps!
Patricia C Sorenson
Does the fabric have to be flannel? can you use cotton material with the batting?
Elizabeth Chappell
Patricia C SorensonGreat question! You can use any fabric. I’ve heard the more the fabric frays the better for this kind of quilt.
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Grace
Of the rag quilt patterns I have read this is by far the best. Perhaps you could add the direvvtionss for a quilt with no batting and the substition of flannel for the middle layer cutting it the same size as the other squares. This adds to your fraying and fluffyness on the top. Also I have found that several washing help with the fraying and putting the quilt in a large pillow case and tying it closed will contain the frayed threads. Just be sure to shake out the threads on both the quilt and pillow case between washing. Please forgive the spelling and punctuation errors. This is my first attempt to post a comment.
Again your tutorial was absolutely great. Thanks also four
Elizabeth Chappell
GraceWow – thank you! That’s such a nice compliment. And i do love that idea of no batting and using flannel. Thanks, Grace!
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camilla kola
Thanks for the tutorial need to make a baby quilt
Elizabeth Chappell
camilla kolaOh yay! I can’t wait for you to have your baby rag quilt.