Tutorial: Easy and beginner friendly rag quilt blanket

Yesterday, I posted a blanket I made on Facebook and I got a lot of comments wondering if this was a sewn or no sew project. Well guess what, I actually busted out my sewing machine and got busy! Now I am not a sewer by any means, but I do have a lil 80.00 sewing machine I bought some years ago. I even let it sit about a year in it's box. You see, I was excited to have it, but too intimidated to use it. (::shivers::) After some coaxing from my girl, Crafty Chica, and a few introductory lessons on how to thread and turn it on by my other girl, Krissi of Krissi's art Estudio, I took the plunge and sewed a few little things. Let me emphasize, LITTLE! However, I did have the confidence to use my sewing machine as an extension of a paintbrush. I love to mix elements up and sew on papers as well as fabrics. You know, a couple stitches here, a few there, but never any "Big Girl" projects.

I believe the largest items I made were handbags and art journals, nothing that required to much sewing and or (ghasp) Cutting! I am still a little scared of cutting and piecing, so to make a quilt styled blanket would have been 100 percent out of my equation!

Fast forward to a trip to Beverly's in my hometown, where I came across a blanket on display with a set of directions right next to it. I was immediately drawn to the colors and the touch of it. It was made from flannel cotton and I noticed that the rag edging looked like it could be very forgiving to the unsteady hand that may or may not know how to cut a straight line!

I told my girlfriend, LOOK, I think we can do this! She was as equally as excited and we started bolting around the store to buy our 5 choices of colors to make the blanket.

I must say, this was super duper easy and it really did give me a lot of bang for both my buck and my ego!

Here is what I ended up with!


It was so much fun, I want to make a handbag with this technique, as well as mixing it up with some mixed media elements! (stay tuned)

Here is the video to show you how to make it. You can also go to Beverly's website and get the directions from there too!




Have fun my friends! (wow, it feels good to blog again!) Orale!

Comments

Krissi said…
Great job! Aren't rag quilts the BEST? They're easy and really nice to have on your feetses when the nights are a bit on the cool side. Keep sewing, Mujer!
Sacred Yoli said…
Amen Amiga! I so want to make a little bolsa!
joanna said…
Love your blanket :)
Robin said…
The blanket is awesome...and as I sit here I just asked my hubs to see if he can fix my sewing machine...I would love to do something like this...my machine keeps stalling and getting stuck after a few stitches...really nice to meet you...you have a wonderful blog too..!
Amelia said…
I'm always one for finding things to do with fabric. Great idea. About time I dusted the dust off my sewing machine :)
Sacred Yoli said…
You can do it Amelia! If I can, ANYONE can!
Healing Woman said…
Your quilt turned out great. The colors are sublime! Thanks for showing the video.