AboutAudrey Zohner Expertise I am an expert rag quilter. I have made over 100 rag quilts and would love to assist others with questions and methods. I don't know much about actual quilting like machine or hand quilting or applique. I am, however, the resident expert on rag quilting in my town. If you want to make a rag quilt, I am your woman.
Experience I have been sewing for 12 years and rag quilting for 4. I have experienced just about every pitfall there is in rag quilting. Check out my quilts at audreysragquilts.etsy.com.
Organizations ISU Craft Club
EtsyKids
Education/Credentials High school diploma
Bachelor's in Animal Science
Expert: Audrey Zohner Date: 7/13/2007 Subject: Flannel rag quilt construction
Question Is is necessary to pre-wash flannel before constructing a rag quilt? All my flannels are of the same weight and quality. I also want to include same fabric applique. I have never worked with flannel before and don't want to make regrettable mistakes.
Answer You don't have to pre-wash flannel before making a rag quilt if you don't want to. When you wash your finished rag quilt, the flannel shrinks then and makes the "X"s more pronounced. Most people like the look of the quilts like this.
You can pre-wash if you're worried about colors running. I always pre-wash red flannel at least two times since it's guaranteed to bleed. I also pre-wash any other flannel if I'm worried that it will bleed. Anything else is fine unwashed.
You will lose a few inches off the width and height of your quilt if you don't prewash, but I just make mine a little bigger to compensate. Just add a 1/2 inch to your squares and you're good.
So, pre-wash red and anything else that may bleed, but don't pre-wash anything else since it's all going to be washed later.
Oh, and DON'T mix pre-washed and unwashed flannel fabrics in the same quilt. If one of your flannels is pre-washed, then you should pre-wash everything else. Otherwise, your one flannel won't shrink as much as the other flannels and your quilt may look skewed. I made this mistake with a baby blanket and the blue squares looked different from all the rest because they didn't shrink as much. My sister still uses it, but even she noticed and asked if I meant for it to look like it did.
Thanks for the question. Feel free to ask anything else.
