I recently bought a box of material from a gentleman off Craigs list. He was selling a sewing machine also, but his son broke it while I was there and it had no manual. Had cams, but I've never used those.

The box was a mixture of all types of fabric, mostly quilting. There was also a bunch of heavy material 100% cotton, per the label on it. It is kind of like denim but not really. There was also denim in the box. I have no idea what type of material this is.

I was thinking of making a rag quilt, not really sure how? But didn't know if I could use this heavy fabric. I bought flannel for the back, decided it would be heavy enough, so no batting.

Do you think this will work? Do I need to prewash all the material a couple of times to keep from shrinking? And exactly how do you make a rag quilt???

Can you tell that I'm a newbie??? I'm so confused! :roll: :roll: :)

What a wonderful treasure you have!!! I have only made one rag quilt, flannel on both sides, so I guess that I'm not much help...
But, I am sure that there are those on here who can help you...
Good luck and don't forget, we like pictures!!!!

I love to make rag quilts and there are so many patterns you can use. Try this link: http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltpa.../rag_quilt.htm
You can also google rag quilt patterns.

Do not wash your fabric first. You will wash it after you have sewn it and snipped it. Then the fabric will fray nicely. If you have denim and flannel, you don't necessarily need batting. It just depends on how warm you want the quilt. (Lots of variables and I have done it both ways.) Have fun and good luck!

I would wash everything, just as I would new fabric. The demin and other heavy fabric could probably be combined into a quilt.

The other heavy fabric is probably twill. Twill is a heavy cotton, sometimes poly/cotton that is used in pants, shorts etc. Wash a piece of it, it should fray after clipping I would think.

I would go for a rag quilt. I have made several with "denimish" fabric and it works just fine as long as it is cotton. If you have different colors/textures be careful with placement to have a nice random or planned pattern on both sides. I prefer to go random. You can "rag" on either the denim or flannel side depending on the look you want.

The heavier fabric would make great shopping totes.

That's what I was thinking too, make some bags. Not sure, but the other fab may be cotton home dec fabric. That's what I have, it's almost like canvas, only softer, but would hold up great for bags.

The only thing is is that I have almost 20 yards of different patterns either in 1 or 2 yard pieces. That is a lot of bags.


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That's why I was thinking of a rag quilt.