Adding regular quilt cotton to a flannel rag quilt.
 

I want to make a nice warm snuggly flannel quilt for my sister who lives in Colorado. I have bought a few small florals in flannel, and some small checks, but availability of cute prints in flannel is daunting. I'm at this point considering combining the flannels I purchased with some cotton prints for the front, but concerned that the ragging is going to be very uneven between the blocks in doing so.

Has anyone done this? If so, can you tell me the effect of the ragging appearance?

I am not sure how that is going to work. I have combined a bit of flannel with some homespun...but maybe if you surrounded each cotton print with the flannel it would work out as some flannel would be in each seam (it sounds like you are planning a rag quilt). I don't know where you are located, but up here in Minnesota I have seen some cute printed flannels.

I did cotton and corduroy squares. Love it still. I did quilt an X in the centers of them each (quilt as you go) and also did a slow circle design while using my walking foot. Stayed together just fine and easy to make that way. all done when sewn into rows.

I don't think I worded my question right. I am referring to the look of the ruffling on the front of the quilt, if some squares are made with a quilt cotton print and some are made using a flannel print. The blocks made with the cotton print will not rag (ruffle) as much as the ones made with a flannel fabric. I could use a piece of flannel in between the fabrics instead of using a batting,
but doing that will not illuminate the disparity in fullness. It would just make the block made with flannel fuller, and add some more fullness to the one made with cotton, but there will be a difference between the two blocks. Am I making sense here guys?

Sewingpup: I thought about doing that, but I don't think that would leave much of the print showing and besides, I was looking forward to making a quicker quilt for a change.

Quilter's cotton doesn't fray very well, and homespun doesn't usually have the cute designs you want. I usually add corduroy to my rag quilts. I use 3 layers of flannel, all 3 cut to the same size, and no batting, so there's no need to sew X's in the squares. All 3 layers are caught in the seams, so there's nothing to bunch up, and the 3 layers provide more fraying. Remember to make your seam allowances bigger - at least 1/2 inch.

Schill93 I am wondering if you are referring to the crinkling that happens when a cotton/flannel quilt has been washed for the first time, rather than actually ruffling/ragging? If so I would prewash everything, if your flannel is also 100% cotton, once everything is preshrunk you should be okay to go.

Are you referring to a Rag Quilt? There are tons of people who have combined flannel and quilting cotton and were happy with the results. Just Google Rag Quilts and you’ll come up with tons.

I have made two rag quilts that were made from regular cotton and flannel. One of them I also used minky in the mix of blocks. They turned out great and ragging part worked just fine. After washing it looks nice and fluffy. I used flannel for the inner layer. The quilting cotton was the focus fabric and then used coordinating flannels and minky blocks.

Yes, that is what I was referring to. I would use a flannel on either the back or sandwiched between instead of batting,
but on the front I would have a mix of both flannels and regular quilting cottons. I know I could do all quilting cottons on the front with either flannel on the back or middle, but I have a number of flannels all ready that I want to use, and then just add to with some as you said some focus fabric.

I think your plan will work nicely. I did use flannel for the back and flannel in place of batting. And then the mix for the front. My husband and my daughter really like their rag quilts! I have to add that I really do not enjoy making rag quilts but people seem really like them! I'm sure your sister will love hers.