Friday, January 7, 2011

Accuquilt Go - Rag Square Die


Take a good look at this Go cutter die, it has genius written all over it.  The 8 1/2" Rag Square die pre cuts the fringes for you ( my least favorite part) but even though this is brilliant I was sceptical.  My main concern was would the fringes drive me nuts when piecing the block together?? I'll answer that in a minute, first I want to show you all the steps to make a rag quilt using the Go cutter.

The first thing I did was cut my flannel into 9 1/2" strips. I bought 2 metres of each fabric and cut it all to make a baby quilt.


Next I folded one strip in half to make 4 layers of flannel and placed it on the die. Then I placed the cutting mat on top and then tried to roll it through the cutter....nope...way to thick!!


So I just unfolded it and used 2 layers, that worked fine.  Here is the finished cut after removing the extra fabric and you can see the fringes.


The instructions with the die said you can cut the batting squares for this project with the 6 1/2" square die. So I gave that a try thinking it would make a big mess and the batting would stick in the die blade or mat (you know like the mess batting leaves on your cutting mat when you trim a quilt when it is done).  Well to my surprise no mess.  Not even a piece of lint was on the die block.




Once all the batting squares were cut I quilted the 30 quilt sandwiches with just an X.


Now to answer the question did the fringes get in the way when sewing the blocks.  Not really but it did make it tricky to match up your seams when stitching the rows together.  But this is a rag quilt and I was going to just let that go.  After all I didn't have to do any clipping and that was wonderful!!
I only found a few fringes sticking out on the backside that had flipped and got caught in the stitching as I sewed the rows together.

Here it is not washed yet.
So if you like to make rag quilts this is definately a great die to purchase if you have an Accuquilt Go.


7 comments:

  1. OK, I found my voice...'I am so jealous'...got to get me one of those 'Go's'!

    Somehow! Darned Vat and import duties!

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  2. I always wanted to see one of these finished! I have seen the die, but I hadn't seen a quilt using it. Very fun. I have a GO! (well, I gave it to my mom)...but we only have the basic die. What is your favorite die that you use?

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  3. Kay you would love a GO! Hope you can get them in Scotland soon.

    Angie, I have only tried 3 dies so far. I am working on a quilt using the Tumbler die and really like it so that would be my favorite so far. Once that one is done I'll do a post about it.

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  4. I finished sewing a rag quilt the other day and kept thinking about an easier way to rag....read your post the next day and this is great news. I do enjoy making these types of quilts for baby blankets but don't always enjoy all the cutting. This machine looks great and very functional for many projects. How much do the individual dies cost approx? I may put the bug in my husbands ear for a birthday gift. :)

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  5. Hello Anonymous :)
    The dies range from $20 to $70 (US). But if you go to the Accuquilt Go website they have Daily Deals and sometimes you can save up to 70% off. The rag 8 1/2" square die that I have is $50. My husband bought me the start set with 18 dies for xmas :)
    I found a store called Quilters Den in Morden Manitoba Canada that has there Go dies on 50% off as they are not selling the Go cutter anymore, they are just going to carry the Baby Go.

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  6. I live in Australia and just before Christmas bought my Go! from Hancock's of Paducah. They offered 10% discount and free international shipping, so I got my Go! for under US$250 delivered to my door! The dollar value was under import duties, so no added expense. Borderline Quilter, have you tried there?

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  7. Janet I just forwarded your comment to Kay (Borderline quilter). I imagine free international shipping is a pretty rare thing!!

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