When you are doing a rag quilt and sewing all the blocks together - where the blocks come together are the two seams from each side sewn OPEN or to one side? Either way it looks like they have to be clipped to rag it but I don't know whether to sew them down open or to one side?
Thanks!
Helen
HI Helen, one way i know of (there maybe more/different ways)... on one side of the quilt has the seams look like regular seams sewn as usual. the other side has all the frayed/raggy seams.
to get this make 2 sets... lay one 'front' (raggy side) square and one 'back' (regular seams) square, wrong sides together.
lay these two 'sets' with the 'back' fabric right sides together. now sew the seam and open. size of seams is up to you. tho, iirc, about 1/2" up to 3/4" seems about right. add seam allowances to finished sq size accordingly when you cut the starting squares.
you should have a clean seam on one side and an exposed seam on the other side. once you've sewn the whole quilt together and go back and (using 'spring to open' scissors, to make it easier on your wrist/hands) snip along all the seams about 1/8 to 1/4 inch apart.
they will fray when its washed so it is "HIGHLY ADVISABLE" to wash the quilt inside a big cloth bag. saves the mess/damage to your washing machine. i do hope that is clear. as i said, i'm sure there are other ways to do this, thats the one i know. cheers, jeanne
I saw John Flynn make a "raggedy quilt" on a Saturday morning quilt show. Can't remember which one, maybe Fons and Porter. He sewed all the pieces wrong sides together and on one he sewed just the blocks wrong sides together. Then he laid the quilt down and with an electric weed whacker started going to it, methodically following the seamed edges on top of the quilt. I couldn't find anything on his site but found this on another through the magic of Google. Looks like fun!
Warning: DON'T TRY THIS WITH a GAS POWERED Weed Whacker - Electric ONLY!
I will add that when I sewed my seams to the side and went to cut I used an Exacto knife. Very sharp. But I also used a thread I could see. This way I inserted the point of the knife in the folded down part of the seam that I wanted to tear, but then back it off a bit, away from the threads. The quilt I'm talking about I made of denim. I took a long time to rip all those seams, but I didn't have a weed wacker and I would probably lack the courage to try it. Mind you my quilt was also slightly bigger than king size. So that's why it took a long time as well. Have a look in my quilts done album, there are a few pics of it. Take Care Joanna
I sew all mine down to one side and simply clip next to the seam.. NEVER THE seam or stitches at all. They rag so much they make perfect corners/middles/etc.
That's what I will do.
Thanks so much for everyone's input.
One more reply Helen, I've gotten the holes in the corners. What I do is sew right up to the intersection with the seams toward me. Stop with the needle up, raise the presser foot, and flip the seams away. This will mean sliding the whole pile out and then back under. Reinsert the needle just on the other side of the intersection and remember to put the foot down! Take the next stitch slowly to make sure the slack in the threads doesn't cause a snarl. That way there's stitching right up to the corner on both sides. When clipping the edges, I try to get the thread 'bridges' so there's no loop to catch a finger. Liz
Haven't tried a rag quilt, but it seems like it wouldn't matter. When it comes time to clip all the seams, you would carefully clip right next to that line of stitching on each side to release the stitched-down areas. Don't cut any stitches. Any threads of fabric caught under the stitches would disappear after washing, when the clipped parts fluff up. Roberta in D "hmharris" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:ROOdnfT3fLdjEWnYnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...
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