The Colour Purple

What little girl doesn't like the colour purple? I know if you ask my daughter she immediately says "pink" and "purple." While I've been waiting for my single girl fabric to arrive (backround fabric came yesterday - yeh!), I decided to continue working on a rag quilt for her in various shades of purple.

Have you seen Rita's Poseidon quilt - I absolutely love quilts made from solids so this was my inspiration. I thought the frayed edges of a rag quilt could look like the white borders of the Poseidon and the squares could be in varying shades of purple.

Tips for Rag Quilts

Here are some of my thoughts:
1. Chain piece - absolutely is a time saver and an efficient way to piece your squares. Sew from one corner to the next diagonally in your square and do not stop at the ends - place your next "square sandwich" under the presser foot and continue sewing from one side to the other.

2. Fold as you go- A quick way to achieve accuracy in piecing these rag squares is to simply fold the top fabric diagonally by hand (before you place all three layers together) and use that line as a guide to sew from one corner to the next. Who needs to press or mark? Why? An extra step is not necessary! You can always do improv style which I've been known to do:)

3. Flannel - I like to use flannel in between my squares of Kona cotton and minky fabric. It not only adds softness and warmth to your quilt but an extra layer which will add to the overall "fluffiness" of the frayed edges. I have used batting which is fine too but you need to cut your batting squares smaller as they do not fray - again, an extra step!

4. Accuquilt Go Fabric Cutter - I got to pull mine out and use my rag quilt die for this project. I do like it a lot but I don't enjoy picking out the loose threads in between the die. With the Accuquilt, you can cut double layers of flannel, up to five-six layers of cotton and single layers of minky fabric. The edges come out pre-cut which is awesome! No cutting by hand!! My only critique about the Accuquilt is that I wish the rag dies came in a size approx. 7 inches. The 5.5 inch die is a little small for my liking in terms of the finished rag block size (rag quilt squares are too close together as the finished size is 3.5-4 inches depending on the size of your seam - I use 7/8 of an inch, some people use 1 inch) and the 8.5 inch die is a little too big. I prefer to have finished squares at least 5 - 5.5 inches like this project I did in the past.

I didn't have my Accuquilt then and cut my fabric the ol' fashion way; I used 7 inch squares to start with...love the finished square size and LOVE the softness of Heather Ross' poplin fabric. It was a great way to use some of my Mendocino fabric and it's great for kids!

Okay, off to feed my little one and maybe spend some time cutting out my Single Girl template for the outer arch...wish me luck!