But, yay! I am done with most of my cutting for the three rag quilts I am making as Christmas gifts. I have been falling out of love with the idea as the cutting seemed never to end! I am waiting on the top fabric for the girl quilt and need to order some pink flannel for the back of hers, also.

I can start the two boy quilts, though! I need to make a thread run and probably need some new needles. What needle should I use in my machine for these quilts? (Each will be three equal sized layers of flannel). And is there any special reinforcing I should do for a rag quilt? Or will a straight line of stitching do?

I just did a straight line of stitching, I was pretty new so I didnt exactly know if I was doing it right or not. One thing that helped me though, was Fiskars rag quilt snips, my hand still hurt though. I got them at Joann's with a 40% off coupon

I used a regular needle. Did my lines in an x then around the block backstitching at the end and begining of my line. Be careful cutting and using spring loaded scissors really helps. In squares that I appliqued, I didn't bother with the x.

I've sold several rag quilt kits on the board here. If you're interested in pre-cut kits PM me. I can't imagine having to do all that cutting by hand. What dedication! If you have some fun embroidery stitches, you could use those instead of the straight stitching, too.

a universal or sharp needle will work just fine, and when i made mine i double stitched all joining seams,just so when clipping if i nicked a thread it would have a second line of stitching to hold it, so no holes formed when washed

Thanks for the tips! (I did get the rag snippers, MrsM, after reading how indispensable they are.)

Candace--you are sure to continue to sell a lot of kits! Cutting is rather a chore (and all that precedes it). I think kits are a great value when you consider the time saved.

Just a suggestion, rather than doing 3 equal size layers of flannel, you might consider doing the middle layer 1" smaller if you are doing a 3/4" seam. That way, you are still getting that 3rd layer of warmth in the blanket, but you are only cutting 4 layers vs. 6 when the quilt is completed.

I use the Fiskers snips also, and the 1" smaller batting square (middle layer), so I have plenty of fabric edges to fray. The decorative embroidery machine stitch to the center is very nice. If not, just a simple square on the centers. when I put the squares together, and snipped, I take to a professional laundry mat and use the over size washer & dryer. This was in a discussion in another group, and I've asked the laundry owner before I did this, and it was ok as they have much bigger systems including drains for all that fraying fabric threads. It's not recommended you wash it at home, at least not the first 1-2 times, after that, it should be safe at home.