Raggy Quilts - A little bit of Fun

Amelia (and Dolly) snuggles with the Cat in the Hat raggy quilt as she social networks on the couch.

I have only recently discovered the fun of making a raggy quilt. I think I made my first one for my niece's birthday last year. She likes purple, so I simply collected a pile of purple-ish fabrics from my store and stash and made a start. 

Yvonne's purple raggy quilt was made with 8" squares.

I am a person who has to look at a lot of pictures and ideas before I decide on how to do something. I'd seen a lot of raggy quilts and at first I didn't really like them . I still don't like the ones with wadding sticking out as part if the raggy fringing, but I've seen some really lovely ones and have a little collection of them here, on one of my Pinterest Boards. Follow some of the links and you can even buy some of them.

Any who…I've made a few since then and they are always incredibly popular!

The most recent is the Cat in the Hat one I am sharing with you today, plus a little bit of info on how to make one yourself. 

The main idea for this simplest of all quilt as you go quilts, is that your front and backing squares need to be cut one inch larger than your wadding squares. Decide on the size you want your squares to be, and the size you want your quilt. My quilt is made of 49, six inch squares (finished five inches) making it 35 inches square. It's ideal for a baby, child or lap quilt. It's good to use something soft like flannel on the back to enhance the cuddliness of the quilt.

The quilted squares are ready to be sewn together.

Match up a front and back square with the wadding centred in between and 1/2 inch all the way round. Quilt it any way you want - the easiest way being diagonally across the square. I often switch to a little bit of a fancier stitch for this.
I sometimes add some raw edge applique  made from snippets of left over, vliesofix and a simple zigzag stitch.

You can see the open seams where the rows are joined here.

Once all the squares are quilted, set them out in a pleasing arrangement and sew them together. You do this across row by row. The seam allowances are 1/2 inch, and the raw edges are on the front of the quilt. Join the rows, opening the seams out at the joins.

The final step is clipping the seams. I use these fantastic Rag Quilt Snips (which are available from my shop if you contact me). The first quilt I used my good Clover scissors and the poor things were squeaking by the end, not to mention the pain in my hand, arm and shoulder!
After you've finished the quilt, it needs to be washed and tumble dried to make it all fluffy and soft. Pop it in a pillowcase before you put it in your machine, then finish it off in the drier. It will still need plenty of shaking to get all the little bits of fluff off.

Oh yes, and the edge. I sew a double row of stitching 1/2 inch round the whole quilt and finish it off by clipping the same as the rest of the quilt.

This is another cute one I made for the Handmade Love Showcase earlier this year.

We used fabrics from the Indigo Red collection by Swirly Girls Design. This was my boy's quilt, and chosen by  the fabric designers as their favourite boy item! I was really chuffed! And, I received a lovely gift from them:

Thank you Swirly Girls ♥
So, who's going to make a raggy quilt soon?
Happy sewing and clipping,
Ann x