She made each of my kids 2 and also made some for other people too. I figured, she's probably made over 20. Since she's made so many... how hard could they be to make. Mistake #1.
So Joann's was having a sale on flannel so I bought 6-1yd patterns to make my first rag quilts. Let me tell you, I was excited. One of my friends is having a boy so I bought all blue and green. Adorable.
So it was finally time for a new project and I remembered reading one time to cut the raw quilt squares 5"x5"... And instead of double checking the instructions on Pinterest or calling my Mom I just started cutting. Mistake #2. The squares should have been 8"x8" and would have saved my sanity while cutting. I cut 2 yards of fabric with scissors and thought to myself and quite possibly out loud. That this is stupid. Luckily, I was already stopping at the fabric store later that day so I picked up a rotary cutter. A new favorite toy that saved my sanity and made cutting the last 4 yards much easier.
*Only 1 accident with the rotary cutter. But it was a fairly bad one. I had both the kids home and it happened in the morning, and I was NOT about to spend the day with 2 kids in the doctors office to get stitches. So, I used superglue to close the big slice (after cleaning it out and all that). I wouldn't recommend it. and it KILLED and separated again after just a day but luckily not as deep. Now its all healed and just a small scar is left. No biggie.
Once it was all done, I decided to stitch X's across, like I had seen in a post. Mistake #3. A quick call to my Mom again would have confirmed that this is an unneeded step because I was not using batting. Oh well. Here are all my stacks all done. Whew.
After this step, putting the blankets together was really a sinch. Just lay out the pattern you want and stitch the rows together. This by far was my favorite part. I finished sewing them together in no time.
Now the cutting. Back to Stupid. Now my scissors could use some sharpening but they are not the right kind apparently. After cutting one whole blanket and destroying hands with my horrible scissors, I called my mom and said "HOW DID YOU DO THIS SO MANY TIMES??"
It was awful. And she told me I needed to get these amazing scissors called "Rag Quilt Scissors" that have a spring and will save your life...or your hands anyway.
I found them and you better believe I bought them! They are essential for anyone making these blankets. It made cutting the other 2 blankets a piece of cake.
Here are my masterpieces:
This one I think is probably my favorite. Its a safari print that I have never seen before and I love the blue and green multicolored chevron.
The other 2 are practically the same just different designs.
Things I learned:
1. Bigger Squares: 8" 10" or 12"
2. Don't X if you aren't using batting
3. Use a Rotary Cutter *just watch your fingers when cutting!
4. Use Rag Quilt scissors--A MUST
5. Don't wash the fabric before you cut. You have to wash it when you are done anyway.
Materials and Cost:
6 yards of flannel: I don't remember and can't find the receipt but it was all 60% off. Wait for a sale if you can!
Rotary Cutter and Mat: $12
Rag Quilt Scissors: $14
TIME: ALOT.
Total: Approx. $15/blanket but that includes the scissors.
>> I was able to get THREE baby blankets for the amount of flannel I purchased and I was only expecting 1, so that was a nice bonus for me.
So 6 yards of fabric, cut 5"x5" squares, makes 3 blankets and not pictured I had enough for a burp cloth too.
I won't say that I will never make any of these again...but I probably won't. They were not my favorite project. But they did turn out pretty cute.
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