James' Baby Blanket (Rag Quilt)

A lot of sewing, and a lot of thread.

My sweet nephew James was born in September and I wanted to make something special for him.  My sister asked my dad to donate some of his Aloha shirts for the project.  Here is the batch she sent me.

I cut the shirts apart (I used 8 shirts total)

And then cut them into 6" squares

 I laid out the squares into a 8x11 pattern. I thought that would be a good size for a baby.

I needed 88 squares for the front, back and middle. I used flannel for the middle and minky for the back.  I needed about 2.75 yards for the flannel and 2.5 yards for the minky, since it was wider than the flannel.

Finally all sewn together!  I used 2 1/2 spools of thread as well!

Here you can see the seams before they are clipped to give the "ragged" look.

And the seams all clipped.  The minky and cotton shirts didn't curl up as much as I'd like, so it doesn't have a very "ragged" look.

All done! And I think it turned out super cute. 

I'm glad I could make him an heirloom that hopefully he will treasure forever.

Flannel Rag Quilt for Baby

 Finished Rag Quilt

While my sister-in-law Julie was visiting she requested that we make a baby blanket for her baby due in September.  We used the tutorial from Just Enough Style for the blanket.  

We picked gender neutral colors because she doesn't know if she's having a boy or a girl.

I think it turned out great!

Rag Quilt

I've always wanted to make a Rag Quilt. I had no idea how much time (and thread) went into making one. Squares measure 4" and the finished quilt is 48" by 56".

I love all the bright colors!

I used McCall's Crafts 3901 as my pattern. Rag Quilts are easy to make, and you don't need a pattern for one, but I felt a little more comfortable since this was my first time making one.