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Thursday 13 August 2015

Starting a Rag Rug, or Three.

Morning all, I was a busy bee yesterday and made a start on my rag rug. I spent  a happy half hour sorting through my stash of duvet covers and sheets. NOT the vintage ones I hasten to add, they are being saved for baby quilts. Just the ones that have been replaced over the years as they wear thin, and the ones that I have picked up for a song at the CS.
I thought about tearing them lengthwise, the traditional way, but the thought of trimming all the threads put me off. 
Lightbulb moment  and out came my big cutting board and a rotary cutter.


I took of the sewn edges and folded the fabric so that I could use my 24" ruler to make a straight edge. Then made a 6" cut.



Slid the ruler 1 1/2" to the left and cut again.


Repeated this twice more and Bingo, 4 strips cut in the blink of an eye.


Five bags of neat and tidy strips, now I am ready to add some darker colours. Then when I have enough I will start plaiting. I also have an idea to try out on the sewing machine but that can wait a day or so.

And now for some more Quilt Heaven.



I have not made house blocks yet but this inspires me to try one or three.


A sad quilt, so very cleverly done. Truly this is art.



The trees are formed by stitching over tint snippets of fabric and I will certainly be trying this technique.
 


A glorious riot of colours, a feast for the eyes.

More of my purchases, basic but essentials and all bargains.




I could, and have in the past, cut these paper templates myself, but it is tedious mind numbing work by hand. I could, and have thought about buying a cutting machine that would cut papers and fabric, The cost, waste and room to store it has put me off so far. I am careful when I EPP not to stitch into the papers so that I can use them several times. Perhaps one day I will change my mind. 


White thread cones, a bargain price to begin with and then an added 10% off for an early bird buy from Empress Mills. I picked up a small black one as I was getting low. This thread is 100% cotton and is as smooth as silk, does not shed and clog up the machine and is equally as good for hand stitching.

BTW Lidl have overlocker thread cones on sale 2 for £2 from today.

Just thought that you may like to know that, I have not bought these before but will be having a look later this morning.

Now I a,m off to have another cuppa before I winkle Ben out for a walk, he is in full lazy boy mode this morning.

                  TTFN                                         Pam

19 comments:

  1. That trees and fields one is just gorgeous - well, they all are. I am in total awe of this work....speaking as one who never sews I just cannot imagine ever having the skill or patience to do all that.

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    1. My feelings are much the same but I am going to try.

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  2. I do like Empress Mill threads, and there Egyptian cotton rolls, I picked up some hexi paper packs for my daughter as she has joined a hexi flower swap and needs to make 32 flowers to send out. looking forward to seeing your rag rug :-)

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    1. I buy my wadding, by the roll, from them. I get a great price and free postage. Your daughter will have sore fingers, all those little stitches and gripping the shapes together, mind you I am planning a tumbling bricks EPP quilt.

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  3. Beautiful works of art for sure. I've been wanting to try my hand at stitch painting. I've watched a ton of youtube video's on the techniques. That tree quilt is lovely.

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    1. I have not looked at any tutorials yet, that is a winter project.

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  4. Gosh some of the quilts are so amazing!

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    1. Some of them literally stopped me in my tracks, and took my breath away.

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  5. I print all the shapes out at home for Fliss to use for her patchwork.

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    1. I have done that but the cutting out just does my head in. I got a good price and the time saved makes it worth while for me.With larger pieces I do print and cut at home, I just could not face it for the amount that I needed this time.

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  6. The quilts are beautiful and unusual. I have always wanted to make a rag rug but don't know how. It looks and sounds like fun.

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    1. It is fun, but like all crafts becomes addictive.

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  7. Snap - I am sorting out some cottons to try my hand at a clippy rug. I saw someone on a Youtube video cutting strips the way you are - so much quicker. I hadn't thought of using old duvet covers but that's a great idea for a plaited rag rug. I'm intrigued by that tree quilt, stitching over tiny scraps of fabric. I would love to know the How of that skill.

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    1. I plan on doing some tutorial watching and practice over the winter. I have never thrown bed linen away, I use it to back quilted cushion cover tops as it is so soft. This seemed like a good way of working through the small mountain that i have built up.

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  8. Now that is a very organised way of storing your proddy strips. I remeber my grandmother yelling, ' Find me some red strips!' as though her life depended on it. She was a terror for just dumping her pieces into a sack, with no regard for colour or pattern. Well, as she said, what are grandchildren for but for finding the things you need when you need them?!

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    1. I am naturally untidy so make myself be as organised as I can. I want to cut through all my fabric before i start and have to keep it all under control.

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  9. Fabulous quilts!!! The one with the trees is amazing isn't it. Hope that you enjoy your rug making, I look forward to seeing more! xx

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    1. I am sure to enjoy it, we used to spend the dark winter evenings doing this when I was a child.

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  10. The quilt that caught my eye was the one with lines of trees and fields. Stunning. You are the third person on one day, that I know, to be starting rag rugs ! A new craze?! ( one that's been going 100s of years

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