Rag batik question
 

I need some guidance please. I am making a rag quilt by using 10 inch batiks as center block and adding 3.5 inch cotton borders to all 4 sides. Final block size is 15 inches. Only the cotton fabrics will be sewn to make the ragging. instead of an “x” from corner to corner, I was thinking of doing a pebble or some other motif in the batik block. Will this hold up of do I need to some stitching on the cotton borders. Thanks

Have I stumped my QB friends? Not one response .....Surely someone must be able to help me .....thanks

I think you can put any design in the middle you want. I think the x was a simple way to hold the batting in the square. With squares as big as you are making, the design will show up ok.

OK, I'll take a stab. No experience, but based on an educated guess. The thing that determines how closely you quilt is the batting. If you use no batting, you might be OK. If you use batting under the strips, check the package. Don't know how many layers you will have, but 15" is a long way. I would think a wiggly serpentine down the center of the strips or an elongated X would not go amiss.

I think you will need some type of stiching in the strips to keep the batting from bunching up on laundering. Just my guess..

The rag sandwich is made with one 15 in cotton square, the middle is a 15 in flannel square, and the 15 in bordered batik square for the top layer. No batting in this rag quilt.
I appreciate those who replied.

If the bag is going to be heavily used and washed often, just run a single line of decorative stitching a 1/4" from the joined seams separate from the center panel. Kind of a "top stitching" in normal sewing terms.

I have made about 40 rag quilts. Most are made with 3 layers of flannel or two layers of cotton and flannel as the middle layer. I think your design would work even better than the traditional X. I have done several quilts using my embroidery machine to stitch designs through all three layers. If the design was small I would also straight stitch in the corners of the square. I've also used decorative stitches, monograms, lettering, and different patterns to quilt the squares. I think you could do any design you wanted. In my opinion the X is the minimum amount of stitching needed but more is better. And I would definitely recommend some type of stitching on the borders.

I just finished a raggy flannel one for my daughter (seemed to take forever and it's heavy). I did a serpentine stitch all the way around the inside and then down the center all in one trip; locked the stitch and then stitched the other diagonal locking it beginning and ending. I have thought of also doing a quilting motif on my embroidery machine on them, so anything would work. But the embroidery would be a LOT of work. So I've not tacked it - yet. Good luck.

I’m confused about batik rag quilt. I don’t think batiks will rag very well