Crafting for Fourth of July: Learn How to Make Rag Balls for Fabric Crochet or Fabric Knitting

For the past few days, I’ve been putting together a roundup of 4th of July crafts and DIY project ideas over at ArtsWithCrafts.com — and I want to mention that to you before I get sidetracked sharing insights about other related and unrelated topics that are competing for space in my brain. If you celebrate 4th of July, and you like to work on craft projects, I hope you’ll check out the page. I’ve shared pictures, tutorials, instructions, patterns and links for bunches of different ideas, from red white and blue spin art to various DIY jewelry-making, crochet and beading projects.

The objects pictured above look sort of like balls of red, white and blue yarn, don’t you think? They’re actually rag balls: that is, cut-up strips of fabric that have been wound into balls. You can You can knit or crochet with them in much the same manner you would with yarn, but they’re made of fabric. with them in much the same manner you would with yarn, but they’re made of fabric. I’ve used these to make one of the craft projects included on the list —this easy crochet necklace.

Because the fabric looks and behaves differently than yarn does, it’s really interesting to craft with it. One of the most intriguing things about the process, to me, is that you can introduce interesting prints and patterns into your knitting or crochet. I love experimenting with novelty yarns and variegated yarns: tweedy looks, space-dyed colors, boucles, etc — but the ability to add actual printed patterns to the mix is priceless.

The picture above only gives you a glimpse into the possibilities, as the fabrics I’ve used here are interesting but not that intricate. They’re batik fabrics with subtle patterning, which I think is perfect for the sorts of fabric crochet projects I like to make.

However, I invite you to use your imagination for a moment, and dream of how it might look if you were to make rag balls out of — for example — a printed fabric with red ground and small white stars, or perhaps a bandana print, or a blue and white gingham checked fabric.

I’d be interested to try incorporating fabrics like these into my own fabric crochet work. When crafting for holidays like 4th of July, I imagine that using such fabrics could add a whole new dimension to each finished project. For example, it could allow you to introduce relevant patterns, like stars, into each finished piece, without the obligation to actually crochet or knit any stars.

I find these ideas so intriguing that it’s all I can do not to drop everything else I have in progress and go off on this fun tangent — and someday in the future I hope I’ll be able to explore these ideas further. Right now, being pregnant, I have to prioritize working on baby projects. I have bunches of those in the works too, and if all goes according to plan, I’ll be sharing the patterns and instructions for those with y’all shortly.

I apologize that I haven’t been sending out newsletters regularly; I’ve totally dropped the ball on that, and I feel really bad about it. I have so many things to share that by now it’s a little overwhelming to even think about all the stuff that’s going to be included in the next newsletter I do send out. I predict it is going to be absolutely packed with patterns and projects and ideas. I’m hopeful that I’ll even be sharing some of my best ideas and projects ever.

If you’re one of my newsletter subscribers, I really look forward to sharing these projects with you — but please bear with me while I pull them together in some sort of understandable format! Thanks for your patience with me, and please know that I really appreciate your subscription — and your interest in my work.

And if you aren’t already a newsletter subscriber, I invite you to subscribe now, because I don’t want you to miss out on any of the fun. Especially if you enjoy crocheting or knitting baby projects!

This post was last updated on 7-4-2019.