help with denim/chambray rag quilt

[kjh9835]

Since I'm not sleeping and the shirts and jeans have been in building stash mode since 2009, I decided I'd get started on the rag quilt. I need something to do, money is tight so using what I have on hand is best and it frees up space.

I knew it would be heavy so I used mostly varied chambray shirts, some thin from wear, some not and pairs of jeans in different color intensities. I usually go king size so it fits the mattress like a bedspread. I have enough to do the top of the quilt but am now at a loss as to the sides.

Since it is a raw edge quilt wouldn't the "solid" sides look funny even as borders or would it draw attention to the actual top/ragged part? I could go ahead and cut more squares of the denim but I'm low on the chambray shirts and don't want it too heavy.

I have 20+ yards of really thin (like cheap sheets) light cotton that I bought for porch curtains and never made them but its not very good quality. I also have quite a few flannel sheets from Goodwill, could I/should I incorporate some of those into the top to fill it out to the edges?

Kathy

[carman]

i have never edged mine, i left them ragged like the rest of the quilt

carman

[Mom of Six]

i have never edged mine, i left them ragged like the rest of the quilt

carman

same here

[LeapFrog Libby]

Ditto for me, on the 2 I have made..

[bridesmom]

I have to be different. I always bind my rag quilts. It's the same as binding a regular quilt, just have to watch when sewing down that you don't catch a bunch of the cut edges in. I machine sew the binding to the back, flip and sew it down on the front so I can watch to not catch the cut edges.

And I'd use whatever fabric I had on hand, it will all fray, some better than others, but I have seen nice rag quilts done out of plaid shirt fabrics too. They rag up just not as thick.

[kjh9835]

I dug around and found some additonal shirts in a different box than they should have been, I thought I should have more and I did. They are 3xl sized from my brother in law who used to work there also. I cut out more squares and laid everything back out on the LR floor so I can adjust the pieces as needed. I still need to cut a few more but my hand is cramping and I have two blisters!

The flannel I can cut with my rotary cutter and mat but I didn't want to dull the blade too quickly by using it on denim because that's my last blade until I get to WalMart again.

Its been keeping me a little occupied today anyway. I was reading a book but it was about a married couple who were each having an affair but stayed married for dumb reasons, etc and it hit too close to home so I put it in the library pile and will get others later this week.

Kathy

[kjh9835]

Another question....I have cut nearly all the flannel I need, just a few more to go.
I had to use different sheets to get enough, I am using one layer for the batting and one for the backing as I don't want it to be too hot/too heavy to use but wanted more than just two layers.

With the different sheets, I know the frayed edges will be different colors so I plan to use all the blue and some red around the edges in some type of recurring odd number and remaining red and prob. dark green to fill in the rest. I may be over-thinking this but will it matter if the batting layer and the backing are the same or different? Since the threads show after washing, I don't know if they should be the same as much as possible or different as much as possible or just toss them in and sew?

Kathy

[LeapFrog Libby]

Kathy,
The larger one I made was from various colors and weights of denim on one side and flannel prints on the back side. I did make sure none of the prints were next to each other, and tried to stagger the colors and shades of denim so no one shade was in a chunk of the quilt, but that is all the planning I did on mine.. It turned out beautifully. We did them in a class and everyone just used scraps . They all turned out to be winners.. Our quilting instructor had secured stacks of old jeans that Goodwill had said were too ragged to sell in their stores. We still found plenty of good parts to use in our rag quilts. we just had to do a lot of cutting . I think you may be trying to do too much planning for the fringing part.. Just IMHO, you understand. LOL

[kjh9835]

Finally done cutting and sewing the sandwiches then I started making the strips......with the right sides together, did two of them before I realized what I was doing and ripped them out. Decided not to sew anymore tonight.

Kathy

[kjh9835]

Well lets just say I did alot of ripping out the right sides to the right sides, took me awhile to get the hang of doing it bassackwards.

Then as I was getting more and more of them done, I realized I didn't cut enough flannel and had to dig out more. I didn't pay attention to which direction I laid out the flannel but I did on the denim and chambray. I also didn't re-arrange the flannel as I had already used the blue and the cream before digging out green, red and maroon so the back of the quilt is lines of prints/solids one after the other instead of being random squares and some of them are sideways but I really don't care since it's the back and the first one I've done.

I have all the strips sewn together but lost track of the order I had them laid out in as I gathered the blocks up from the floor so I had to lay them all out again and re-arrange the strips as best as I could to keep them looking random.

I may or may not sew them all together tomorrow as I really want to finish the woodworking project. I do have the garagel cleaned/sorted, made and installed shelves for the storage area and organized all my sewing supplies into that area that can be closed off from the garage when I'm making other messes in there.

Kathy