"Rag" edges

I'm participating in a round robin stitching project scheduled to begin in mid-
January. Everyone gets to choose their own theme and specify or supply the
fibers and other materials. 25 square inches is the maximum stitching area.

My theme is Bling It On! subtitled Buttons, Beads and Baubles. The embroidery
will be done in the center of a 7 x 7 sandwich. Stitchers can use any ground
material; I'm supplying thin cotton batting and quilter's cloth (I forget the
proper name) that I was told is easy to use for hand stitching.

Because I'm somewhat construction challenged, I thought putting the pieces
together as a rag quilt wall hanging might give me alot of wiggle room for not
quite straight seams. You can see what I mean by a rag quilt by visting this
page:

http://www.sewing.org/enthusiast/htm...rag_quilt.html

There are two possible stoppers in this plan. Gotcha #1 is that the 'experts'
in the fabric store and at least one online sites strongly suggested using
special (spring loaded??) scissors to clip the seam allowances. Being the
frugal person I am since this project will only have about 12 stitched blocks,
I'm loathe to spend money on something I may never use again.

Gotcha #2 is that I've learned that the ragged edge is created by machine
washing the finished piece. I'm almost 100% certain that there will be delicate
embellishments and/or non-washable fibers and fabric that could/would be
damaged by this process.

Any and all suggestions about assembly or edging techniques will be greatly
appreciated.

--
another Anne, add ingers to frugalf to reply

Anne -

I'm an experienced sew-er, but never made a rag quilt. Here' my "best
guess":

The spring-loaded scissor suggestion (I've never heard of such a thing,
to be honest) is probably a matter of your comfort. You'd be amazed at
how tired your hand gets from lots of repeated small jab cutting! So you
probably won't need to spend the money if you just don't try to do all
the cutting in one day - space it out over several days, a bit at a
time. You will know yourself well enough to know whether you can be
patient enough, vs. getting "into" it so much that you don't stop, and
wake the next day with tendinitis/sore hands! (And make sure you have
very sharp scissors to make the job easier.)

As far as the fabric used, I would make the quilt out of washable
fabrics, wash it several times to fringe the cut seams, *then* stitch
the "fancy" squares onto the finished quilt. I could see it with, say,
7" squares for the quilt, and 5" "fancy" squares appliqued (stitched)
over the plain squares, with 11" border showing to frame them. That's
the only way I see around the need for machine washing to "beat up" the
background fabric, and delicate washing for the embellished squares.
Future washings can be by hand, once the fringed effect is achieved.

Hope that helps!

Sue











anne wrote:
I'm participating in a round robin stitching project scheduled to begin in mid-
January. Everyone gets to choose their own theme and specify or supply the
fibers and other materials. 25 square inches is the maximum stitching area.

My theme is Bling It On! subtitled Buttons, Beads and Baubles. The embroidery
will be done in the center of a 7 x 7 sandwich. Stitchers can use any ground
material; I'm supplying thin cotton batting and quilter's cloth (I forget the
proper name) that I was told is easy to use for hand stitching.

Because I'm somewhat construction challenged, I thought putting the pieces
together as a rag quilt wall hanging might give me alot of wiggle room for not
quite straight seams. You can see what I mean by a rag quilt by visting this
page:

http://www.sewing.org/enthusiast/htm...rag_quilt.html

There are two possible stoppers in this plan. Gotcha #1 is that the 'experts'
in the fabric store and at least one online sites strongly suggested using
special (spring loaded??) scissors to clip the seam allowances. Being the
frugal person I am since this project will only have about 12 stitched blocks,
I'm loathe to spend money on something I may never use again.

Gotcha #2 is that I've learned that the ragged edge is created by machine
washing the finished piece. I'm almost 100% certain that there will be delicate
embellishments and/or non-washable fibers and fabric that could/would be
damaged by this process.

Any and all suggestions about assembly or edging techniques will be greatly
appreciated.



--
--
Susan Hartman/Dirty Linen
The Magazine of Folk and World Music
http://www.dirtylinen.com

anne wrote:
I'm participating in a round robin stitching project scheduled to begin in mid-
January. Everyone gets to choose their own theme and specify or supply the
fibers and other materials. 25 square inches is the maximum stitching area.

My theme is Bling It On! subtitled Buttons, Beads and Baubles. The embroidery
will be done in the center of a 7 x 7 sandwich. Stitchers can use any ground
material; I'm supplying thin cotton batting and quilter's cloth (I forget the
proper name) that I was told is easy to use for hand stitching.

Because I'm somewhat construction challenged, I thought putting the pieces
together as a rag quilt wall hanging might give me alot of wiggle room for not
quite straight seams. You can see what I mean by a rag quilt by visting this
page:

http://www.sewing.org/enthusiast/htm...rag_quilt.html

There are two possible stoppers in this plan. Gotcha #1 is that the 'experts'
in the fabric store and at least one online sites strongly suggested using
special (spring loaded??) scissors to clip the seam allowances. Being the
frugal person I am since this project will only have about 12 stitched blocks,
I'm loathe to spend money on something I may never use again.

Gotcha #2 is that I've learned that the ragged edge is created by machine
washing the finished piece. I'm almost 100% certain that there will be delicate
embellishments and/or non-washable fibers and fabric that could/would be
damaged by this process.

Any and all suggestions about assembly or edging techniques will be greatly
appreciated.

Being of curious mind, I looked up "spring-loaded scissors" and found
they were a fairly new product designed with arthritis sufferers in mind
because they spring open, reducing the mechanics/motion of cutting.

Why not fray by hand? This is how I have made some placemats and napkins.

Dianne

--
Embroidery Discussions at http://www.heritageshoppe.com/forum

On Dec 15, 10:59 am, Dianne Lewandowski
wrote:
anne wrote:
I'm participating in a round robin stitching project scheduled to begin in mid-
January. Everyone gets to choose their own theme and specify or supply the
fibers and other materials. 25 square inches is the maximum stitching area.

My theme is Bling It On! subtitled Buttons, Beads and Baubles. The embroidery
will be done in the center of a 7 x 7 sandwich. Stitchers can use any ground
material; I'm supplying thin cotton batting and quilter's cloth (I forget the
proper name) that I was told is easy to use for hand stitching.

Because I'm somewhat construction challenged, I thought putting the pieces
together as a rag quilt wall hanging might give me alot of wiggle room for not
quite straight seams. You can see what I mean by a rag quilt by visting this
page:

http://www.sewing.org/enthusiast/htm...rag_quilt.html

There are two possible stoppers in this plan. Gotcha #1 is that the 'experts'
in the fabric store and at least one online sites strongly suggested using
special (spring loaded??) scissors to clip the seam allowances. Being the
frugal person I am since this project will only have about 12 stitched blocks,
I'm loathe to spend money on something I may never use again.


SPRING SCISSORS - these are great. I have a friend who gave a pair to
everyone in our stitching circle and we all love them! I use them when
I have to get into a very delicate area and make a quick snip or even
just to grab them from my scissor block. These are a less expensive
version of surgical tissue scissors which for dental surgery cost about
$150.00. If your hands get even a tinny bit tired of snipping threads
go ahead and get a pair. I think you will enjoy them.

Alice in Utah


Gotcha #2 is that I've learned that the ragged edge is created by machine
washing the finished piece. I'm almost 100% certain that there will be delicate
embellishments and/or non-washable fibers and fabric that could/would be
damaged by this process.

Any and all suggestions about assembly or edging techniques will be greatly
appreciated.Being of curious mind, I looked up "spring-loaded scissors" and found
they were a fairly new product designed with arthritis sufferers in mind
because they spring open, reducing the mechanics/motion of cutting.

Why not fray by hand? This is how I have made some placemats and napkins.

Dianne

--
Embroidery Discussions athttp://www.heritageshoppe.com/forum

On 12/15/06 12:59 PM, "Dianne Lewandowski"
wrote:

anne wrote:
I'm participating in a round robin stitching project scheduled to begin in
mid-
January. Everyone gets to choose their own theme and specify or supply the
fibers and other materials. 25 square inches is the maximum stitching area.

My theme is Bling It On! subtitled Buttons, Beads and Baubles. The embroidery
will be done in the center of a 7 x 7 sandwich. Stitchers can use any ground
material; I'm supplying thin cotton batting and quilter's cloth (I forget the
proper name) that I was told is easy to use for hand stitching.

Because I'm somewhat construction challenged, I thought putting the pieces
together as a rag quilt wall hanging might give me alot of wiggle room for
not
quite straight seams. You can see what I mean by a rag quilt by visting this
page:

http://www.sewing.org/enthusiast/htm...rag_quilt.html

There are two possible stoppers in this plan. Gotcha #1 is that the 'experts'
in the fabric store and at least one online sites strongly suggested using
special (spring loaded??) scissors to clip the seam allowances. Being the
frugal person I am since this project will only have about 12 stitched
blocks,
I'm loathe to spend money on something I may never use again.

Gotcha #2 is that I've learned that the ragged edge is created by machine
washing the finished piece. I'm almost 100% certain that there will be
delicate
embellishments and/or non-washable fibers and fabric that could/would be
damaged by this process.

Any and all suggestions about assembly or edging techniques will be greatly
appreciated.

Being of curious mind, I looked up "spring-loaded scissors" and found
they were a fairly new product designed with arthritis sufferers in mind
because they spring open, reducing the mechanics/motion of cutting.

Why not fray by hand? This is how I have made some placemats and napkins.

Dianne

That's what I was thinking. FWIW, I have a pair of Fiskars soft handled
dressmaker shears - that are probably the spring loaded type - they're
awesome. After getting those as some great bargain, I got the pinking
shears - which are much more comfortable to use than the standard ones.
Although, honestly, I tend to finish seams in some way other than pinking.

But, honestly - I did think that just fraying the patches by hand if you did
them one at a time wouldn't be that hard to do. Some clipping, and then you
can use a comb or stilletto or something to pull threads and fray.

ellice

anne wrote:
..... Because I'm somewhat construction challenged, I thought putting the pieces
together as a rag quilt wall hanging might give me alot of wiggle room for not
quite straight seams. You can see what I mean by a rag quilt by visting this
page:

http://www.sewing.org/enthusiast/htm...rag_quilt.html

There are two possible stoppers in this plan. Gotcha #1 is that the 'experts'
in the fabric store and at least one online sites strongly suggested using
special (spring loaded??) scissors to clip the seam allowances. .....
Gotcha #2 is that I've learned that the ragged edge is created by machine
washing the finished piece. .......
Any and all suggestions about assembly or edging techniques will be greatly
appreciated.

OK -- I quilt -- I quilt A LOT! I have made at least four rag
quilts and I have never used the fancy-schmancy spring loaded scissors
-- don't even own a pair of the ones made specifically for cutting rag
quilts. Sure, they are nice and it would be a lot easier to cut the
seam allowance to make the raggedy edges but they are totally
unnecessary! With just 12 blocks, you won't have much trouble at all,
honest!
To get the raggedy edges, you DO need to machine wash and machine
dry the finished piece -- at least three times. You also need to do
this at the laundromat because all those little clipped threads that
come off the seam allowances can nest in your machine filters and they
are trouble with a capital "T"!!! Since washing & drying is not
possible, you COULD do it by hand but it won't be much fun! There's one
guy quilter (I think it's John Flynn [sp?]) who sews up the rag quilt,
tosses it out on his lawn and has a go at it with his weed whacker -- I
kid you not -- as a quick way to get the cut seam allowance edges to fray!
Now for a few "do it this way" suggestions. The backing fabric
should be muslin and I'm pretty sure that's what you have planned. It's
what I use to back almost all of my quilts and is inexpensive and
available at any place that sells fabric. Plan on having minimum half
inch seam allowances! This is just about mandatory to get a nice
raggedy edge. Some folks make the seam allowances even larger and
that's OK, just do not make them any smaller than one half inch!!!
You have to decide if you want the batting to be enclosed within the
the sandwich made of the backing and the needlework fabric OR if you
want the batting to be part of the raggedy edges. I have done it both
ways and I prefer having the batting a big as the rest of the fabric so
that it is part of the raggedy edge. Either way is OK so don't sweat
your decision :-).
You're going to begin to wonder what to do when you get to the area
where four of your blocks come together. I usually cut all of the seam
allowances in the longest direction first. Then I go back and cut the
edges in the shorter direction. It gets a bit tricky when you get to
cutting the seam allowance where the row stitching crosses the column
stitching. There's no right or wrong way. Just decide what look you
prefer and go with it. This is probably confusing right now but it
will make sense once you have the stuff in front of you :-)!
I'm sure you will have tons of additional ideas from others and then
even more questions as time goes by. I 'm also sure that your round
robin will turn out great :-)! CiaoMeow ^;;^

PAX, Tia Mary ^;;^ (RCTQ Queen of Kitties)
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary

Thanks all. I've saved the messages for study at a later time.

Don't stop now. More help and suggestions are always welcome!
--
another Anne, add ingers to frugalf to reply