making a rag quilt
#1
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 4
I am making a rag quilt. How do you sew the blocks together and the rows of blocks together without the top block stretching and becoming longer than the bottom block. I tried using a walking foot, but with o luck. Is there a trick to cuting out the blocks.
#7
Did you prewash your flannel? It has a lot of give to it, and there is a lot of variance in how much flannel will give from bolt to bolt. Some flannels are a lot tighter woven than others and don't give as much. I confess that flannel is the only fabric I always prewash. It might help to work with smaller blocks. When I've made rag quilts I usually use an 8" block, sandwich each block and quilt (I just put a simple star or X to hold the layers together then sew around all four edges just inside where my stitching line will be), then sew the blocks together.
#8
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
I would prewash and dry flannel at least once (some people do it twice) to tighten up the weave. It usually shrinks a lot.
When working with flannel I also apply heavy starch to stabilize it so it doesn't stretch while sewing. My method is to mix a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid starch with water, lay the fabric out on my kitchen island, and "paint" the starch on the fabric with a large wall painting paintbrush. When the fabric is saturated, I throw it in the dryer and afterwards iron it with steam. It sounds like a lot more work than it is; I actually don't mind doing this. The flannel comes out quite stiff and I can then cut and sew without any worries about stretching. The starch comes out in the first wash.
When working with flannel I also apply heavy starch to stabilize it so it doesn't stretch while sewing. My method is to mix a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid starch with water, lay the fabric out on my kitchen island, and "paint" the starch on the fabric with a large wall painting paintbrush. When the fabric is saturated, I throw it in the dryer and afterwards iron it with steam. It sounds like a lot more work than it is; I actually don't mind doing this. The flannel comes out quite stiff and I can then cut and sew without any worries about stretching. The starch comes out in the first wash.
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