I recently wrote about a “Mustaches and Elephants” themed rag quilt I made for a friend’s baby shower – check out the original post here! Now I want to write about the quilt a bit more and share some of the technical information. It’s not as exciting as the story behind the quilt, but it will likely be of use to you if you’re looking to make a baby-sized rag quilt yourself!

The hardest part about this project was figuring out what size I wanted the quilt to be. Every tutorial out there recommends different measurements and I had a hard time visualizing each size. I saw a rag quilt sample hanging up at the fabric store that looked like a good size, so I counted the number of squares and measured one of them with my hand to make my final decision… when I got home from the store, I had to measure my hand. My methods are very scientific. 😉

Here are the final measurements that I went with… I really liked the final size and will stick with these measurements when I make this quilt in the future! Keep in mind that these are just the measurements that worked for me, so let me know if you have any additional suggestions or methods that work for you.

I wanted a random pattern layout, so I used Photoshop to create a quick mock-up of the quilt and rearranged the squares that way (you could easily replicate this process using graph paper and colored pencils if you’re not Photoshop savvy!). If you’d like to make this quilt using four different fabric types as I did, feel free to copy the layout below! It’s actually quite funny how difficult it is to create the “perfect” random layout. Comparable to creating the “perfect” messy bun in your hair. 😉

Once I had that work behind me, piecing the rows together went really fast. I didn’t have to waste time fretting about where each square was supposed to go. And if I ever make this same quilt in the future – 48 squares with 4 different fabrics – I’ll be able to use the exact same layout.

I love the way this quilt turned out and will definitely be making it again in the future! With my next rag quilt, I’ll be sure to take lots of photos throughout the process so I can create a tutorial of my own.

Please let me know if you have any baby quilt measurements that have worked for you – and leave a comment if you decide to give these measurements a whirl. I would love to see your finished products!