Rag Style “X” Pillow

Some of you know that I was super blessed to be selected to be an ambassador for Benartex for 2024! This means that I’ll get to bring you some fun projects this year using some of their fabulous fabrics. I’ve been using Marbleized from their Better Basics in a few projects this year already. You’ll see this lovely line in my Ninja Star Sampler Block of the Month, and I used it for the cover quilt of my new pattern for Cut Loose Press called Almost Time.

My first official project for Benartex is our group project. The other ambassadors and I get to make a mini project inspired by the Benartex “X”, and we will all be using a different line from Better Basics. For my project, I chose to make a sham for a 16″ x 16″ or 18″ x 18″ pillow insert, depending on how tightly stuffed you want it to look. I made a quick and easy mini rag quilt and used that for the front panel for the sham.

So what are rag quilts? They are fun and easy projects. They are different from regular quilts because the seams are exposed and then snipped to create the pretty fraying after being washed. For this one, I used two layers of quilting cotton. I used a darker color for the back layer for the accent color that you can see at the seams.

I have a tutorial for you on how I made this fun and easy X Pillow.

Fabrics

Front Panel Pieces:
– (4) 9.5″ printed squares to make the “X” – I used two squares in Lilac, one in Turquoise, and one in Lime Green
– (4) 9.5″ squares in the accent color- I used Benartex Superior Solids in Navy
– (16) 5″ squares for the background – I used Benartex Superior Solids in White

Envelope Opening
(2) 19.5″ x 13″ rectangles

Binding
(2) 19″ x 2″ strips
(2) 23″ x 2″ strips
I used Sunflower Yellow.
***This is based on my hybrid binding method, but you can also cut 2.5″ strips and use traditional binding.
***The measurements listed are generous to give you some wiggle room.

Make your front panel

For most quilts, you assemble your quilt by sewing the pieces rigths sides together, but this is not what you do for a rag quilt. You’ll sew your seams wrong sides together so that you can make that exposed seam. You’ll also use a larger seam allowance so that you have room to make the little cuts that will create the fraying. Instead of a 1/4″ seam allowance, you’ll use a 1/2″ seam allowance.

For this mini, we’ll use two layers. The first thing we’ll do is stack our printed squares with our accent squares. You’ll stack them WRONG SIDES TOGETHER. I used a solid for my accent squares, so there isn’t really a right or wrong side, but for some fabrics it does make a difference. I like to use a little bit of glue to stick the pieces together and hold them in place when you go to sew them together. I use the purple washable school glue. It goes on purple so you can see where you’ve applied. Then it dries clear and comes right out in the washer.

Once you have all of the printed squares glued to all of the accent squares, you’ll need to prep your background. Stack two background squares and glue them together. After you glue them together, you’ll draw a diagonal line on one side of each stack as shown in the picture below. Repeat this to make all 8 stacks.

Lay out your printed squares in the order that you want to sew them together. If you use non-directional prints, you can just put all of the background squares on opposite corners of the accent color side of the larger stacks and flip them around as needed. But, I’ll show you the way you’d need to stack them in case you have directional prints. Check out the picture below for how to lay out your 9.5″ stacks.

Keep the squares in the same place and flip them over. Place two background stacks on each of the 9.5″ squares with the drawn lines up and placed in the same spots as shown in the picture below. Be sure your drawn lines are going in the same directions as I have them in the picture below. I have the lines highlighted in red to make them easier for you to see, but you’ll want to mark lightly or use a washable marking. I like to glue these background squares in place too.

You’ll sew right along the drawn lines as shown in the picture below.

Cut a 1/2″ seam allowance to the outside of the drawn line as shown below.

Once you cut the triangles off, you can flip the remaining background fabric up, and it’ll start forming the shape you see in my finished pillow. Lay the pieces out as shown in the picture below to form the “X” design.

Sew your pieces together to form two rows first, and then sew the two rows together. I would typically press my seams to the sides to nest them. This helps me allign the seams better. You can check out my instagram post on nested seams here. BUT, for this project, you can get away with the seams not matching up as well bacause the fraying after you snip the exposed seams will hide the points where the seams meet up. For all rag quilts, the back is the part where the seam allignment is noticeable. For this project, the back of our mini rag quilt will be on the inside of the pillow. So, it’s a very forgiving project. I don’t know about you, buy I don’t take people’s handmade shams off and turn them inside out to check their work, and I’ve never had a guest do this at my house. If you aren’t as precise on this project, your secret is safe!

Make the two envelope openings for the back of your sham

I like to make these a little bigger and trim them down after they are attached. You could cut them to the exact size, but if you get a little wonky or your 1/2″ seam isn’t perfect it may not match exactly. This could cause unneccesary frustration. This is not meant to be a stressful project.

Take one of your 19.5″ x 13″ pieces. You’ll fold it along the long side of the piece about 1/2″ up. I like to line the fabric up with the lines on my cutting mat as shown below. This will give you a guideline for folding the fabric up. I like to use my seam roller to press this, but you can also use your iron to press it. Roll it up one more 1/2″, and press again.

I like to use my clips to keep this in place, but pins will work fine too. The next thing you’ll do is sew close to the inside edge of that folded section as shown. Repeat this process with the other 19.5″ x 13″ piece.

Attach the back pieces of the pillow to the mini rag quilt front panel

We’re going to add binding to this sham. So, this will go together a little differently than most shams.

Press the front of your mini rag quilt. You want to press those exposed seams down so that it’ll lay nice and flat for the next step. You’ll baste the envelope opening back pieces to the mini rag quilt front panel.

Lay the front panel face DOWN as shown in the picture below.

You’ll place one envelope opening piece face UP on the front panel with the edge coming 2-3″ past the middle of the panel as shown. I like to get out one of my old cutting mats here so that I don’t get any basting adhesives on my good cutting mat.

I use stick glue to baste the envelope openings to the back. Pull the envelope opening piece back and add your glue. Press the envelople opening piece to the front panel, smoothing it out as you go, just like you would do when you’re basting a quilt. I use stick glue most of the time, but basting spray would work great too.

Repeat this with the bottom half of that 19.5″ x 13″ piece as shown below.

You’ll repeat this process with the other 19.5″ x 13″ pieces. You’ll need to glue the second piece over the first piece as shown in the picture below.

After you have everything glued togther, it should stay in place nicely while you stitch the back to the front. You won’t have to worry about the back pieces folding up on you in the wrong direction while you sew them on. I like to keep the excess and serge around the edges of the front panel instead of sewing them together with a 1/4″ seam. You’ll want a smaller seam allowance here so that there isn’t any chance that your binding won’t cover the seam allowances on both sides. If you don’t have a serger, your sewing machine’s zig zag stitch will work fine. You want to set it so that the zig zag is about 1/8″ wide. If your machine doesn’t have a straight stitch with a zig zag stitch, an 1/8″ seam allowance will work.

Once you serge around all four edges of your front panel you can trim the excess from the back pieces. I like to line my ruler up just a hair or two to the outside of the zig zag so I don’t cut my stitches.

Add your binding

The (2) 19″ x 2″ strips and (2) 23″ x 2″ strips I have listed in the fabric requirements for binding are for my hybrid binding. I call it hybrid binding because you do cut strips, and you aren’t using the backing as binding. It’s unlike traditional binding though because you don’t iron your binding in half first. You’ll attach your strips right sides together with the back side/envelope opening side of your sham. After the strips are attached, you can use any backing as binding method to flip it over to the front and secure it with a top stitch.

I went over my hybrid binding method during my quilt along for Sound Waves Baby Quilt here. I also have some demos on instragram. You can watch how attach the strips to the back here and how I flip them over to the front and secure them here.

You can also use traditional binding with 2.5″ strips if you prefer.

Clip the exposed seams so they’ll fray in the wash

If you’re going to make a lot of raq quilts, it’s definitely worth getting some spring loaded scissors. They open back up on their own, saving that movement for your hands. The ones I have are by fiskars.

I like to cut the exposed seams every 1/4″ to 1/2″ and cut a little over half way into the seam. You want to cut deep enough that it will fray nicely, but don’t cut into your stitches.

For this small sham it doesn’t take long to clip all the expose seams. But, for a larger rag quilt it feels like it takes forever. I always settle in and catch up on my netflix when I’m clipping the seams for these. After you get all the seams clipped, wash your quilt, and it’ll make the pretty fray you see in my finished sham pictured below. You can see Cleo lending a helping paw when I took that picture.