Hi

I just finished my 4th rag quilt for the month. Just learning how to do them. But the question I have is do you back stitch when you do your X's. And another question. Do you wash your fabrics first. I have been using cotton on the top flannel in the middle and on the bottom. i have been washing the flannel before i cut and sew them together but not the cotton fabric. I had bought some squares off Ebay and then bought flannel material and cut them myself and never thought that the cotton fabric that i got from ebay was never washed. Seems to come out pretty good. A little wrinkled in the squares but that looks good. I'll have to take pictures and post them.

thanks
Pam

I wash and dry on high heat the flannels and cottons before cutting the blocks and just chain stitch the x's.

I think as you have found that not prewashing the regular cotton isn't a problem :D
I would chain stitch them too!! Those few stitches in the seam lines shouldn't hurt a thing, and it will make this process go so much faster, too :D:D:D

I don 't back stitch the stitches for my rag quilts, nor do I wash/ dry the fabric prior to cutting . Everyone does them different , so you will get many answers :lol:

I wish I had thought to chain piece my "x's", backstitching on my old machine is a pain. I always wash and dry my fabrics before cutting and piecing. I do it out of habit and the terrible fear something will bleed and mess up the completed project. Besides I don't always get fabric from LQS, but from garage sales, church bazaars, op-shops, so who knows how much dust etc. is in the cloth.

I don't pre-wash. You will get better results on the "fraying" after you have clipped the edges. I've also had better results when the clipping is 1/4" apart instead of 1/2"-1" (my husband clipped for me....yea!) Also I don't worry about the back stitching in the middle of the block because it will be in the 1" seam that will ravel in that area. The one thing that I do (and I don't know if anyone else does)....ready....I sew two seams (instead of one on all seams) for reenforcement. Nothing worse than taking it to the laundry mat to get it to ravel and have the seam "pop" open. Ellen

I only do one seam ....

I have heard that many use a very narrow zig zag seam to reinforce the seams. :D:D:D

I wash all fabrics before using--never wash batting. I do not backstitch. Good luck!

thanks so much ladies...I will stop back stitching the X"s...I did do a pittsburgh steelers quilt for my daughter for Christmas..Don't tell her. LOL And i bought the yellow and gold and steelers fabric pre cut from ebay. Then before i washed it was afraid that the black would bleed on the gold becasue that fabric wasn't prewashed so i bought these sheets from shout they are called color catchers. Worked great...the sheet turned a little dark so it did catch the black that bleeded some. And the gold looked great. Plus there were white steeler blocks in there to. I will try to get picks today.

thanks again
Pam

DITTO

I seldom prewash the fabric for any quilts. I don't lock the stitches either. Just line them up and sew them. I use a decorative stitch for the outside border. They last forever through many washings. I usually wash them at least 4-5 times before i give them away. That way most of the fraying takes place and they look great. Remember to clean the lint filter after each washing! The first 3-4 washings have a lot of lint and threads.

Could someone explain what 'backstitching' is?
Thakns, and Merry Christmas to all of you and the very best in the New Year. ;)

Ooops, sorry about the 'thkns' ... a little Christmas Eve wine...

I have never done this before. Sry I am not of any help at the moment :(

I have never used batting in a rag quilt. I have always used flannel on the back, cotton or flannel on the front. Most of them have stayed in nice climates. As I say that now its 30 degrees (Dallas). We had "blizzard" today. Probably 1-1/2 inches of snow! There was an hour program on the TV news about the Christmas Eve blizzard. Even I was laughing!

When you start stitching and go forward a stitch and then reverse a stitch or two and then continue forward stitching

Thanks, I thought so but since I am fairly new to quilting, I thought this might be a quilting term.

Ok.. I want to do a rag quilt but ...can someone tell me what the x's are?.. is that where u just sew on the diagonal?
thanks,
Fannie

Yes. It is not always necessary. I have one pattern that I have used a lot the largest square is 8X7. I have not used the "X". they work just fine.

The X is sewn across the square for the rag quilt to help hold the batting in place . Just sew from corner to corner

another question on rag quilt- do u cut each square (and whats a good size) and then sew the top square along with the cut piece of batting and the back or can u sew top & bottom and not use a batting?
thanks, Fannie

I usualy cut mine 7 inches for the top and bottom. The batting if you use any is 6 inches. Batting depends what fabric you are using and how heavy you want it to be. I use polyester batting so its not too heavy but, fluffy and puffy :lol: . I use flannel for top and bottom. If you use cotton it is thinner and not as warm.

Thanks girls, you're the best!! No need to look elsewhere for answers!
Fannie