I don't understand how to cut my squares or how to sew in order to leave enough room to cut the little picecs that shows up on the quilt top.I understand if i'm cutting say a 7 inch sq. then how far do i leave to cut after i sew the sq,'s together.Told u this would be the dumb of the dumbest questions u fine folks would ever answer.
Thanks in advance for all the help i can get i've never made one of the rag quilts but i sure do love the looks of them :oops:

I think that you sew with a 1/2 inch seam allowance to give you enough room to make the clips in your seam. Then wash the quilt to make it fray where you clipped it.

1/2" is a good size seam allowance. Some people will use a 1" seam allowance, personally I don't like it that big.
With a 7" square, it will leave you with a 6" finished size in your quilt.

1/2 in is good.

I want to say Thanks to all of u wonderful folks, u people make me feel right at home here i was really about afarid to ask this question but i have never even saw a quilt like this before i came here and oh i have fell over hills in Love with them Thanks Again(:)

Soooooooooo glad you ask, I had no idea either! :lol: :lol:
This is such a great place full of information, and I learn something new everyday!

Also take them to a commercial laundry to dry them or empty your lint screen out several times. They can clog your dryer up really fast. They are so fast and easy to make that you can get one done in a day.

I do mine with 1/2 in. to. I washed the one i made for my daughter for Christmas around 3 times. She just washed it the other day. She called me and said it was only in the dryer for 10 min. and the lint thing was full...LOL I told her to check it alot. They do fray alot.

nope! Dumb questions doesn't excist, only dumb answers.

Glad you asked, I learned something new! Thanks. :)

Great question I think and you got the right answer for all of us that did not know.

thanks for asking it helped me too. i going to try one soon

mema

When you clip the seam, do that just 1/4 in. deep and about 1/4 in. or so apart.

WOW! I had no idea you did it any different than any other quilt.

The only dumb question ia the one that isn't asked

everyone is so nice here. no question is "dumb." Ask again if needed !

Thanks for the tip on using a commercial laundry for drying. I'd hate to set my house on fire because I forgot to empty the lint filter often enough!

no worries, there are no dumb ?'s

I use 1/2" to 3/4" seam and snip at an angle so that when it's washed, it creates a bit of a twist and rags up a bit more.

Get some snips....otherwise your clipping will be a nightmare. I have Fiskars with the spring and they worked well. Eddie posted his flannel quilt recently and he had a different kind that worked well for him. A half inch seam worked well for me, but some do a one inch with great success. Happy quilting and remember have fun with it and post pics!

No such thing as a dumb question!!! :D:D:D
Also, if you spray the seams after clipping them to damp not wet, you can take a stiff bristled brush and brush them to get the worst of the strings out before laundering. The strings can also clog up your washer, and we all know about the dryer lint screen :D:D:D
I recommend taking them to the laundramat the first time, and the first few times washing them at home, check the lint screen every 10 minutes while drying.

Okay, I get it. I must've missed the prior thread. For a minute I thougth we were saying to use 1/2 -1 inch seam allowance for a quilt. It's for a rag quilt, right? I'll tell you what happened to me. I made a christmas tree rag quilt for myself using a pattern and cut the "fringe" allowance 1" per the instructions. I then decided to make my grandson a smaller but identical pattern. Not thinking, I left a 1" "fringe" and found that for a smaller 'square', it was too big. It made the squares look like blocks. So, my advice is to check one or two blocks to see how your 'fringe' is going to look with your block size. you may have to go a little smaller or larger depending. I hope I made sense. here's the little quilt in my grandson's bdrm.

One of the things I love about this group is being able to ask any question we have and not be made to feel stupid in the process. The spring scissors are hand savers - especially when you find out you can't make just one!!! Have fun and please post a picture when you finish.

I love this sit to, and Im sure when I start Quilting I will have a lot of question my self

Anna, your Christmas rag quilt looks cozy and beautiful. Thanks for sharing your photo with us. Linda

If you sew a 1/2" seam, make sure you do not cut into your seam when clipping, as your quilt will come apart. 1/4" cut is great, and if you cut 1/4" apart will give you a frilly rag. you can cut 1/2" apart for a more relaxed rag. Not sure what your pattern calls for,but you can rag the outer edge too, just make sure you sew 1/2" seam and clip like the rest of your quilt. Have fun!

For a Rag quilt, use 1/2" seams. I have done several of them & I think 1/2" looks the best. Be careful clipping at corners. It's easy to cut the corners off! :roll: Cut down to just b4 the seam lines for them to curl right. On other quilts, a 1/4" quilt is the standard unless the directions tell you to do something different.
The only dumb questions are the ones you don't ask! How else are you going to learn??
Here is my latest French Braid, almost finished but I can't decide how to quilt it?

To reduce the amount of lint shed the first few times they're washed - before I snipped the seam allowance, I pulled some of the threads while I was watching tv. If you have a septic tank, its also good to wash it at a commercial laundromat as well as drying it there.

Thanks, BettyK. I hadn't thought about the septic tank--and I have one, so it's off to the laundramat for me for wash and dry.