The Denim Rag Pattern marches on!

The continuing saga of the Recycled Jeans/Denim Rag Quilt Pattern!

My pattern continues to develop. I’m almost done with the rough draft. I’ve been making corrections as I go so I think it’s a bit better than a true rough draft.

As I think I’ve mentioned before, it’s definitely a challenge to put actions into words. I know what I mean but am I getting that across?

Here’s a sample of something I’ve written. What do you think? Is it clear? Too wordy?

“Place the first denim circle WRONG side up on your work surface. Using a ruler, measure 1 ¼” from the outer most edge of the circle and mark this line along the edge of the ruler. Any pen will work; you will never see the line.

Place the marked circle and a second, unmarked circle from your row, RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER. Pin and sew along this line.”

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Here’s where we left off last time. The table runner was completely assembled but not yet “raggy”. At this point, I got out the spring loaded scissors.

Okay, there’s a separate blog post coming about spring loaded scissors.
I’ve learned a lot about them and which ones are more reliable.

Here’s what the runner looked like after clipping the edges with the rag scissors.


I trimmed every edge except the outer edges. There’s no point in trimming them because they will be cut away prior to binding.

After trimming, I went to work on the clipped edges with a stiff brush. Similar in feel to a toilet brush, I always go over my trimmed edges with this brush. I find that it really speeds up the fraying process.


As you know, a rag quilt gains it’s frayed, ragged edges after multiple washings and dryings. This is, of course, an important part of the process.
However, I give my quilts a good “once-over” with the brush before the first washing to speed the process of fraying.



It can make a bit of a mess on your work surface but think about what you’re getting out ahead of time that won’t get stuck in your dryer’s lint trap!




You can see how the brush lifts up the edges and begins to create that frayed look we are going for.


And, here’s what it looks like after washing and drying.

All that’s left is to cut away the edges and add the binding.

Heather

Finishing Up the T-Shirt Quilt!

So, I’ve been gone from Blogdom for a while. The holidays just took over and that was my only focus for a while!

But…I’m back!

I did get the t-shirt quilt finished in time for Christmas. I finished sewing on the label at 8:30pm Christmas Eve!! Oh well, it was fun and he REALLY liked it! That was the point!

Here’s where I left off with my last blog post.  The top was completed and ready to go to the quilters (AKA “Mom”).


Got it back from my Mom a few days later and got busy on the binding.






I knew in the back of my head that I was not going to let this quilt get out the door without a label!! It’s happened too many times where I took until the last minute to finish the quilt and never got the chance to add one.
So…I made sure I built enough time into the finishing and I was happy with the finished result. Normally, I print the label on prepackaged paper backed fabric. However, I just read an article about a woman who prints her message on the computer (in whatever font she likes), puts a piece of fabric over the paper and traces the message in her own hand.
What a great idea!!
I decided to give it a try and I was really happy with the results. Here’s what it looked like!

It’s personalized but neat.
In my next post I’ll talk about putting the finishing touches on the rag  quilt/table runner. The fun continues!

Take Care!
Heather