Rag Time Baby Quilt!!!

Today I was working on a rag time quilt for a lady my dad works with, these are great quilts for beginners, and gifts because they are simple quilts that you "quilt as you go" and they don't require a ton of fabric so they become reasonably priced. I typically create my own pattern for the rag quilts because you can customize the size of the quilt and you can make it as difficult or simple of a pattern as you want. The smaller squares  you use the more tricky and time consuming the quilt is. The quilt I made today was for a baby so it was small and the final product was approx. 33 x 33.

The supplies you need for this project are:
-thread
-1/2 yard of Hot Pink Fabric
-1/2 yard of Green Fabric
-1/3 yard of Giraffe Print Fabric
-1/3 yard of Pink Polka Dot Fabric

the first thing I do with all of my rag time quilts is decide on the size of my pieces and then cut them all out for this quilt the larger pieces are all 9x8 and the smaller pieces are 9x4.5  I cut the following
12- 9x8 Hot Pink
12- 9x8 Green
12- 9x4.5 Giraffe
12- 9x4.5 Polka Dot

Next what you do is lay out your quilt both the front and the back so you know which pieces will be sewn together and so you can see what it will look like and make sure you space your pieces evenly apart. after you have it laid out your going to take the front piece and the back piece and sew them wrong sides together this is the quilting part of your quilt your going to sew the squares at an angle and I use a zig-zag stitch because it looks cooler when your done but you can sew with a straight stitch to save thread if you want. once your done you should have 12- 9x8 sandwiches wrong side together and 12- 9x4.5 sandwiches like the picture below.

now that you have all of your sandwiches which are your front and your backing your going to sew your rows of your quilt together, your going to take your first 2 sandwiches and put them backs together and sew one side with a 1/2 inch seam. you will do this with all of your rows until you have all of your rows put together and all of your seams will be on the front side of your quilt this is how it should be.





after you have all 4 of your rows sewn together your going to sew your rows together also with the backs together with 1/2 inch seams and again your seams will be on the front of your quilt.

after you have all of your rows together your quilt should be completely put together, now you want to sew a 1/2 inch seam around the entire outer edge of your quilt, like the picture at the left.


now your are ready to clip your quilt this is what makes it "rag" your going to need extremely sharp and short scissors and your going to clip all of the seams on the front of your quilt down to the seam you sewed but make sure to be careful not to clip the seam or you will create a hole in your quilt.


after you've clipped all of the seams you can choose to wash it or not I always wash them even if i'm giving them as a gift because this frays it up like its supposed to be and finishes it off, also I don't want people to get worried when it changes so much after they wash it the first time. so that's all for how to make it my final quilt is below and please post pics if you tried this or created your own pattern to try.