Rag Quilt Die
 

Does anyone have any tips for sewing the squares after using a die. I just made my first one with a ide and the amount of lint was unbelievable around and in my sewing machine,

Pardon me, but isn't that the nature of a rag quilt?? ...... lint city?

Could you be more specific about what fabrics, threads and batting, if any, you are using? Could you please include pictures?

I gave the squares a quick run over with my hand held Dyson as I cut them on the Accuquilt, still had loads of 'bits, over me and my room ����

That is why it is recommended that rag quilts first be washed in a commercial machine. Cutting first and then sewing with those edges floating around is going to cause lint earlier in the process. Nothing you can do about it when cutting the "rags" early. It is fast but messy.

I cut the block together. One layer of backing fabric, then the batting square (cut with the 6 1/2 square die), the the top layer of the block. The block gets cut as one. Having the whole block together cuts way down on the lint. I use thin cotton batting that doesn't have a lot of lint. I like 80/20. I made a rag quilt using batik for the back and front and there was very little lint at all and the strips ragged just fine.

When you cut the two pieces with the batting between in one cut, did you find it held together better? Twice when I've used rag blocks I cut on my Accuquilt, I found the blocks shifted when I stitched an x across them and when I sewed the blocks together, I wasn't always on the right side of the fringe. Yes, I pinned, but it still was a problem. I'm thinking (hoping?) cutting the blocks at one time will help...

I pin the block together right off the die and make a pile of them. It is so easy to sew together. If a few snips get caught in the seam I don't care. I clip them if they show but I make the rag quilt rag front and back. I over lap the block and sew down the middle. Blocks are not on top of each other but side by side when sewing together. Rag on both sides.