Rag Quilt Tutorial part 2

After leaving the dyed fabric to batch overnight, it's time to rinse the excess dye.  Use cold water for this, and rinse till most of the dye is gone.  You will need your gloves on for this.

 Squeeze excess water from the fabric, and place each colour separately.

 Wash at the hottest temperature your machine can do  - mine is 90 degrees C - you can wash colours together.  However, if you have yellows or any very pale colours, they are best washed separately.

 Here's the Blue-Violet fabric, and below is the Grape.

 I didn't really massage the dye properly into the green fabrics - the more you manipulate the fabric in the dye, the more even the result.  While I prefer a mottled look, these could have been done better.

 This is the nightie dyed with Jade.

 When they're all dry, here's what I have to work with.

 I've decided my quilt will be made from 48 8 inch squares - 6 squares across and 8 squares down.  I take the Jade fabric, which I want to have on the top, and tear it into 8" strips.

 Snip the edge with the scissors and tear.  Don't worry about removing loose threads.  Some fabric pieces are too small so I put those aside for another project.

 Do the same thing with the other fabrics.  I will need 144 squares in total, as I will have 3 layers.  I've decided that the top will be jade, green and blue-violet, all the centre squares will ben grape, and the back will be purple and green.

 Select 3 squares, and place them on top of one another.

Set up your sewing machine with one colour on the top and another in the bobbin.  I have a brown thread on top and blue underneath - that way, I can easily tell the fronts from the backs.  Stitch the first set of squares diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner.

 When you reach the other corner, don't cut your thread - do a few stitches, then bring your second set of squares into place and repeat.  This is called "chain piecing".   Repeat until you have 48 squares.

 Then do the same thing again on the opposite sides so that you end up with a cross (above) on each set of squares.  You will see that I have  made no attempt to have my sewing lines perfectly straight - this is a rag quilt, after all.

 Here are all my 48 squares, sewn with a cross, and sorted into piles depending on the colour of the top square.

Take a coffee break at this point - you're doing well!