How to Make a Flannel Rag Quilt The Easy Way ~ A Tutorial

A Quick Heads up:

This is a LONG blog post with LOTS of step-by-step photos (because I am a visual learner….).

To make things easier I have added the table of contents below if you want to skip to different sections.

What is a Rag Quilt?

No, it is not a quilt made of rags… although I suppose you could make one from rags – that is the whole concept of patchwork quilts isn’t it?!

In this case, a rag quilt refers to the raggedy edges of the blocks where the blocks are deliberately allowed to fray thereby giving a rag effect.

FAQ

What Type of Fabric is Best to Use?

Different fabrics can be used but cotton with a larger weave is ideal to use for rag quilts. Flannel is perfect, as is jeans material.

The first rag quilt I made was with offcuts of jeans. I was very happy with how that came up.

I also made one from fleece… that was a disaster – It didn’t fray at all, and I have no idea where that one ended up!

There are a few layers of fabric in a rag quilt – usually three. Sometimes all three are layers of flannel, but I prefer to just use flannel for the outside, and batting in the middle layer.

How Difficult is it to Make a Rag Quilt?

Rag quilts are easier to make than they look, so they are suitable for all skill levels. They are also very forgiving quilts – the frayed edges cover a multitude of mistakes, trust me!

So whether you are a beginner or a more experienced quilter, this is a great project to make.

It is also good for those who can’t quilt large quilts on their home machines. Each block is quilted before they are all sewn together, so it again lends itself well to domestic sewing machines.

How are the Raggedy Edges Made?

Once again, when I made my first quilt, I used a pair of scissors to snip into the edges of the quilt blocks and quilt – oh boy, was that hard work!! It was only a small quilt, but by the time I was done, my hand was killing me!

The next rag quilt I made I got clever, and bought myself a pair of spring loaded scissors… that was so much easier and less pressure on my hand.

However, today I will be sharing with you the easiest way to do the ragging process and get that perfect raggedy edge!

Does the Fabric Need to be Washed?

Yes, it does – but only AFTER the quilt has been made!!! Do not prewash the fabric – we want it to fray in the washing machine and dryer.

How Big Will this Quilt Be?

This quilt is only a small one – a baby quilt.

The quilt top finishes at 26″ x 32″.

Even though this one is small, it’s super easy to make a nice big snuggly version, you just need a lot more fabric!

How to Make a Rag Quilt the Easy Way

After trying various methods of making a rag quilt as I mentioned above, I was thrilled when Accuquilt came out with a Rag die!!!

At first, I thought it might have made it harder since the raggedy edge was already cut… and I wondered how I would quilt and then sew the blocks together.

But I found it was quite easy, and like I said, it’s a very forgiving quilt so any mistakes or doubling of frayed edges were covered up once washed.

So, the easiest way to make a rag quilt? Using the Accuquilt Rag Die!

Materials Needed for a Baby Flannel Rag Quilt

I chose to use two different flannel fabrics – one is a sweet feature fabric, the other a coordinating plain one.

For the middle of the blocks, I cut up scraps of batting.

• 3 yards of Flannel Fabric A
• 3 yards of Flannel Fabric B
• 1 yard of batting or use scraps
• Accuquilt Go! Rag Square 8 1/2″
• Accuquilt Go! Square 6 1/2″ (6″ finished)
• Go! Heart die (optional)
• rotary cutter, cutting board, and other general sewing supplies
• sewing machine
• walking foot

Cutting Instructions

Using Accuquilt Go! Rag Square 8 1/2″ Die:

• Cut 20 Rag squares of Fabric A, and
• 20 Rag Squares of Fabric B

Using Accuquilt Go! Square 6 1/2″ Die:

• cut 20 squares of batting

(Optional) Using Accuquilt Go! Heart Die:

• cut 10 of the largest hearts

Alternate cutting Instructions if you don’t have the Accuquilt Dies

Cut:

• Twenty 7 1/2″ squares of Fabric A
• Twenty 7 1/2″ squares of Fabric B
• Twenty 6 1/2″ squares of batting

Making one Block

We will start with making instructions for one block and then go on to putting the quilt together.

1. Place one rag block with the wrong side facing up on your work surface. Then place one of the batting squares on top of it, in the middle:

Take the other rag square and place it wrong side down on the other two layers:

It’s a bit counterintuitive to normal quilting since we generally put right sides together when sewing, but in this case, we are quilting first and in a sense making a small quilt sandwich out of the blocks.. so we are putting the wrong sides together so that the front and back of the blocks have the right side showing.

2. Sew the layers together from corner to corner in a diagonal line. Using a walking foot helps keep it all together. You can draw a line, but I just eyeball it:

This is the first step of quilting the block… half way there!

Sew from corner to corner on the other side:

The walking foot help prevent puckers when crossing the other stiched line.

And the quilting is all done!

Now how easy is that???!!! Really, it is the easiest quilt to “quilt”!!

Traditionally the squares are quilted with straight lines, but, if you want to practice your free motion skills, these are great blocks to do that on. I made one of my rag quilts doing this, and it was lots of fun.

Adding the Hearts – Optional

Halfway through the quilt I decided to add hearts to the yellow blocks because they were looking rather plain…. now I don’t have a rag heart die, at least not a little one, so I used my second most used Go! die – the Heart Die.

I did not use any fusible interfacing, just cut and sewed the hearts to the blocks as is, still using the walking foot:

I used a little more than 1/4″ seam allowance.

Of course, they then had no fringe…

So I used my handy dandy embroidery scissors to snip snip snip… and was so happy that I didn’t have to do that to all of the blocks!!!

Putting the Blocks Together

I decided to alternate the feature and the plain fabric, but that is just personal choice. You can have all the front with the feature fabric, and all of the back with plain if you like.

3. Take two blocks and place them on top of each other:

4. Sew them together, slightly to the left of the fringe:

If you push the flannel down a bit you can feel/see the batting – I like to sew slightly to the right of that:

Two blocks sewn together:

Add two more blocks to these to make one row.

Then make four more rows for a total of 5 rows of 4 blocks.

Sewing the Rows Together

Sewing the rows together is fairly simple as well. It’s the same as sewing the individual blocks, and you only really need to match up the seams. I do use lots of pins at this stage:

5. Place two rows with the back of the blocks together:

You want the raggedy fringe to be on the front of the quilt. Using the pins, match up the seams as best you can:

6. Sew the rest of the rows together in the same way as the blocks, until all the rows are joined.

Troubleshooting Tip

When you make a rag quilt the traditional way, without the Go! die, the fringe is cut later, so it is easier to sew the rag squares together without the fringe getting in the way.

When using the Go! Rag Die with the fringe already cut, it may seem stressful when joining the squares and rows.

Don’t Stress! I’ve already told you this is a very forgiving quilt… and mistakes literally and figuratively come out in the wash!!

When joining the fringe edges you can try to push aside the fringe pieces and get as close to sewing in between them as possible:

But in the end, once the quilt has gone through the wash and dryer, no one is going to be able to see if some of the fringe pieces are sewn on top of each other.

Finishing the Quilt

Once the rows are together, all that is left to do in the sewing room, is sew around the outside of the quilt:

Washing the Quilt

I forgot to take a photo of the quilt before it was washed… because that is one of the final steps…

When giving the quilt its first wash, you can do it by hand in warm water, but I prefer to just use the washing machine. The next step is to use the dryer to dry and fluff it up.

7. Wash the quilt on a gentle cycle.

8. Dry the quilt in the dryer – this is what gives it that nice end result that is soft and gives it that lovely raggedy look!

And it is Done!

The last step is to take some photos…. I tried to take photos on two different days and they were both windy!!

Since I don’t have any little ones in the family at the moment, I thought I’d take it to a playground to do a photo shoot….

In the photo below, the quilt started at the top of the slide…….. and by the time I’d taken the photo, it was down the bottom.. haha!

While I was taking photos, there was a young man with his toddler daughter on the swings… he commented – “That’s a nice quilt!”

I told him I was impressed that he knew it was a quilt!! Most people say – oh, nice blanket!!

After some discussion, he asked if he could buy it… but I said no… I was quite amused though, it’s not the first time someone has asked if they can buy a quilt I’ve made…. maybe I should start making and selling them (in all my spare time)!! No, no, no!!

He did ask me what I was going to do with the finished quilt… and I said “hope for a grandchild one day”!! If one ever comes along, I’ll be ready!!

Well I hope this post inspires someone to make a rag quilt! This really is such a quick quilt – it makes it ideal to make as a gift. It’s also a great way to use up scraps, flannel or otherwise.

Other Projects to Make with the Rag Die

I’ve got a few other projects I’ve made in the past with this die that might inspire you:

Rag Kitchen Mat

Rag Dishcloth and Potholders

Thank you!

I’d like to thank Fabric Wholesale Direct for giving me the fabric and the opportunity to make this cute quilt with it! Be sure to check out their website, there is sooo much to see there!

Oh, I have leftovers… so I will be making something else with that… in a few months, so stay posted!

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