Top 3 Tips When Working with Jelly Rolls / Beauties Pageant 344

I find myself walking a thin line between talking up jelly roll quilts (because I love them! because I wrote a book about them!) and remembering the rest of the quilting world doesn’t necessarily sew with them. And there are many good reasons not to buy jelly rolls. For example, perhaps you—ahem!—already have a ton of fabric, or perhaps you love curating a fabric pull on your own, without the help of a fabric manufacturer or quilt shop. If that’s you, I’d encourage you to read last week’s post and cut your own jelly roll from the stash you have on hand.

However, if you already own jelly rolls, I am here to tell you that it’s time to open them up and use them. But first, read my top three tips for working with jelly rolls ...

1. Deal with your jelly roll's pinked edges.

Depending on who assembled your store-bought jelly roll, it may or may not have pinked edges. (I am mostly a Moda girl, and all Moda jelly rolls have pinked edges.) And dang, do those pinked edges make a mess. They shed over everything and are the reason I keep my jelly rolls wrapped up until I’m ready to use them. 

In my book, I suggest swiping a sticky lint roller across a jelly roll before unwinding it. In the past few months, though, I’ve tested and embraced a different, arguably more effective, approach: I use my clothes dryer. If you tumble-dry your unwound strips without heat for a few minutes, you’ll corral more of the shed than you would with a sticky lint roller.

If you forget and accidentally use heat, any shrinkage will occur with the weft threads (that is, the horizontal threads). You will not lose any of the 2.5" of the warp threads. Trust me, I have made this mistake and measured!

I do still keep a sticky lint roller nearby, though. It’s good for quick cleanups as you handle the strips. 

Flea Market Fancy, from Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts

2. Measure a strip from your jelly roll before sewing. 

The easiest way to make sewing with jelly roll strips more difficult is by neglecting to measure the strips. It’s not necessary to measure every single strip, but if you’ve bought a roll—whether it was assembled by a fabric manufacturer or a quilt shop—you need to know where the 2.5" starts and stops on the pinked edges. 

Sometimes a strip measures 2.5" from peak to peak of the pinked edges. Sometimes one will measure 2.5" from valley to valley. I have found that even two rolls from the same manufacturer may differ, so measuring is imperative.

Once you know the exact measurement of the strips, you can line things up at your machine correctly. Piecing perfection is possible!

3. Don’t be afraid to supplement with strips from scraps and stash. 

At times, the patterns in my jelly roll book, Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts, ask a lot of a jelly roll. For example, consider Lucky Medallion, pictured below. This design requires a lot of green strips—many more than you’re likely to find in a single roll. That doesn’t mean you should buy a second roll, though! Instead, look to your scraps and stash for suitable additions.

For this particular project, I started with a roll of Country Rose, by Lella Boutique for Moda Fabrics. To flesh out the green part of the palette, I turned to some fat quarters I had from Love Note, another fabric line by Lella Boutique. (Remember the math from last week’s post? Two cuts 2.5" x 20" from a fat quarter are equivalent to a 2.5" x 40" jelly roll strip. Read the post for more info on this front.)

I find that designers often build collections around a signature palette. The greens in Love Note weren’t exact matches to those in Country Rose, but there weren’t off by much. In fact, I would argue that the finished quilt top is better because of the additions. The different greens add variety and interest to what might otherwise be a rather ho-hum circle of green blocks in the quilt.

Lucky Medallion, from Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts

Interested in more tips and tricks when working with jelly roll quilts? You know where I am going to send you ... Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts contains a bunch of helpful guidance, and it is on sale through September 21! (See the full details below.)

A Sale for National Sew a Jelly Roll Day

If you have multiple jelly rolls stashed away, I can relate to your plight. To help you get going on some precut-busting patterns, my best-selling jelly roll pattern and my jelly roll book are on sale through September 21.

Ridiculously Easy Jelly Roll Quilt (PDF version)

This column-based pattern comes in five different sizes and features two different design options. It’s a great geometric quilt pattern to have at the ready and looks equally stunning in modern fabrics, juvenile prints, or more traditional designs. The PDF is usually $13. Through September 21, you can get it for $10. Get your copy here.

Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts 

This 112-page book features 14 different jelly roll patterns, everything from quick runner projects to big bed-size quilts. The book was originally $27.99. Through September 21, you can get a signed copy for $22.50. Get your copy here.

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For the Jelly Roll-Averse Quilter / Beauties Pageant 343

What I am about to say is potentially controversial: National Sew a Jelly Roll Day isn’t just for precut lovers.

In case you aren’t familiar with this holiday, here’s the scoop: Several years ago, Moda declared the third Saturday of September as National Jelly Roll Day (also referred to as Project Jelly Roll). This year, it will happen on September 19. At face value, this event is a brilliant scheme for the fabric company to sell more jelly rolls. For those of us who have stashed more jelly rolls than we’ll ever admit to, however, it’s an opportunity to prioritize a precut project or two and put our jelly rolls to good use. 

Here’s the thing for those of you who like jelly roll patterns but don’t see yourself buying jelly rolls: You don’t need one to participate in National Sew a Jelly Roll Day. You can cut your own jelly roll from stash!

If this option intrigues you, here are some things to consider ...

The Simple Math of Cutting Jelly Roll Strips

A jelly roll strip is 2.5" by the width of fabric—so, 2.5" x 40" or so after you remove the selvages. A jelly roll contains 40 of those strips. If you’re someone who stashes half-yard or full-yard cuts, you will need to cut 40 strips 2.5" x the width of fabric to assemble your own jelly roll.

I stash more fat quarters than I do yardage, and fat quarters are about 18" x 20". If I cut 2 strips 2.5" x 20" from a fat quarter, I have the equivalent, inch for inch, of a jelly roll strip. Depending on the pattern at hand and how it cuts jelly roll strips, however, I may need a third cut from my fat quarters to substitute for full jelly roll strips. (If you can’t be bothered to review the math to see whether this is will apply to the pattern you are working with, start by cutting 2 strips from each fat quarter and keep the rest nearby in case you need additional strips 2.5" x 20".)

Pixelated Herringbone from Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts

How to Start Curating Your Jelly Roll

An easy place to start is with a few fabrics—in yardage or as fat quarters—from the same collection. This way, you’re starting with a few prints that were designed to coordinate. Then, build from there. Let that handful of fabrics dictate your palette, and add to it other prints, solids, and blenders. Pay attention to genre. In other words, if your original cuts have a juvenile feel to them, any additions should have the same sense of youthfulness. If your original cuts are pretty florals, search for other feminine prints that could work well with your original fabric pull.

Keep in mind, if you’re looking to curate a full 40-strip jelly roll, you don’t need to find 40 different coordinating strips. Including duplicates—even many of them—will almost always work well.

Myriad from Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts

A Quick, Modern Jelly Roll Pattern

An easy modern pattern to bust through a jelly roll you bought or curated yourself is my own Still Pretty Simple Jelly Roll Quilt. Plus, it’s one of my Almost Free for Charity patterns, which means I will donate part of the proceeds from each $3 pattern to an organization that supports the Down syndrome community. (I talk about my own kiddo with DS in this post.)

So, are you game to bust open a lovely roll of strips—or curate your own—and get going? Here are a few things to know about the Still Pretty Simple Jelly Roll Quilt:

* This pattern requires just 32 jelly roll strips and 1.75 yards of background fabric to make a 56.5" x 64.5" throw-size project.

* The 16 elongated log cabin blocks you’ll make can be configured in a bunch of different ways. I’ve arranged mine to be a large arrows, but other suggestions are illustrated here.

* For this particular pattern, you can use strips cut from fat quarters to sew this design. You’ll need 32 pairs of strips 2.5" x 20"—that is, 64 in total—to sew this pattern.

A Sale for National Sew a Jelly Roll Day

If you have multiple jelly rolls stashed away, I can relate to your plight. To help you get going on some precut-busting patterns, my best-selling jelly roll pattern and my jelly roll book are on sale through September 21.

Ridiculously Easy Jelly Roll Quilt (PDF version)

This column-based pattern comes in five different sizes and features two different design options. It’s a great geometric quilt pattern to have at the ready and looks equally stunning in modern fabrics, juvenile prints, or more traditional designs. The PDF is usually $13. Through September 21, you can get it for $10. Get your copy here.

Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts 

This 112-page book features 14 different jelly roll patterns, everything from quick runner projects to big bed-size quilts. The book was originally $27.99. Through September 21, you can get a signed copy for $22.50. Get your copy here.

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My Quilt-Binding Philosophy / Beauties Pageant 342

I have been involved in a local quilt guild—the New Hampshire Modern Quilt Guild—for several years now. (I’m a resident of Massachusetts, but the group’s weeknight meetings are a short drive for me.) At times I’ve served on the board, as the events coordinator or president. Even as a rank-and-file member, though, I like to contribute on occasion and head up a make-and-take craft or lead a short tutorial.

Years ago, I gave a little spiel on how I machine-bind my quilts. In my mind, I was simply presenting what I had been doing for years. For some of my guildmates, however, this technique was novel—some of them had always finished their bindings by hand! I kind of love that about quilting—how there are multiple ways to accomplish the same thing, and everyone has a technique that works best for her.

So it’s in that spirit that I thought we could have a little conversation about bindings and have included some of my favorite past bindings here in this post.

I can summarize my binding philosophy as follows:

* I love a fully machine-finished binding. My wrists thank me for it, especially for larger projects.

* If I am going to take the time to hand-finish a binding, I use a chunky visible stitch because I want credit for my handwork!

* I cut width-of-fabric strips, not bias strips, because I can cut them fast and they require less yardage than bias strips. I know that bias strips, by nature, wear better, but I’ve never had an issue with my WOF strips.

* My secret for neat corners on machine-finished bindings is a little Elmer’s glue. Just use a little bit and set with heat before sewing.

For more details, check out the tutorials below. Then share your own binding dos and don’ts in the comments!

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For the Love of Pieced Backs / Beauties Pageant 341

Quilters tend to fall into one of two camps: those who piece their quilt backs and those who don’t. I am a member of the former group. I almost always piece my backs. To me, piecing a back doesn’t mean joining two widths of identical fabric, though. (I despise matching repeats and avoid that approach whenever I can!)

I have a particular approach that involves stashing 2 yard cuts of fabric, cutting them lengthwise, and then filling in the middle with fabric I want out of my stash or scrap bin and into a quilt. (For details on this technique, click here.)

What results is often a chunky design that coordinates with the quilt top without competing with it. Check out some of my favorites from finishes past and the rationale behind each one ...

Piecing to Use a Precious Fabric

I was lucky enough to have yardage of a focal fabric from Basic Grey’s PB&J years after the collection went out of production, and I used it in the back below. I made this quilt for me, so now I get to enjoy that beloved print every day. (See the full project here.)

Piecing to Avoid Accumulating Scraps

I made my mother-in-law a quilt to coordinate with her family room. There were a lot of cool colors in the quilt, which are far from my preferred palette, so instead of filing the leftovers from the quilt top in my scrap storage, where they would likely linger for years, I incorporated them in the back. (See the full project here.)

Piecing to Feature a Large-Scale Print

I loved the Joel Dewberry print below and knew it deserved to exist uncut in a project, so onto a back it went! (See the full project here.)

Piecing to Highlight an Inspiration Fabric

The floral below from Rifle Paper Co. set the palette for the quilt top. Of course, I had to include a swath of it on the back. (See the full project here.)

Piecing to Do Something a Little Different

The front of this quilt included the tiniest bit of teal. I couldn’t successfully incorporate teal in the top, though, so I gave it its day in the sun on the back. (See the full project here.)

Are you a fan of pieced backs? Share your tips in the comments!

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Fear Not the Y-Seam! / Beauties Pageant 340

Back in 2017, when I was still a baby quilter, I believed the rumors about machine-sewing y-seams, and they were to be avoided at all costs! Pattern after pattern, after all, reassured me and other potential buyers that its design could be replicated successfully—no y-seams required. 

Four years into my quilting adventures, however, I bought a hexagon die for my AccuQuilt Go and decided to see for myself: Were y-seams such a big deal?

In short, no. Sewing them was not the same experience as chain-piecing other projects, but it wasn’t hard, either. I started with a simple baby-size project of diecut hexagons ...

And graduated to more-complicated designs ...

When people asked whether I would turn such designs into patterns the one-word negative response was always the same, though: y-seams.

Until now! The same technique that has most quilters running for the hills is exactly what QuiltCon workshop participants are looking for. 

If you’re planning on attending QuiltCon 2027 in Atlanta and would like to try your hand at y-seams, let me introduce you to Circa 1870 ...

I sewed Circa 1870 in 2017, and it hang at QuiltCon 2019, in Nashville. This project is a great introduction to y-seams. The hexagons aren’t too small to make you think you might want to sew them together by hand. They’re also not too big and unwieldy to work with. I will hold two session of this three-hour class, billed as No-Handwork-Required Hexagons, on Thursday, February 25, 2027. By the end of class, you’ll be armed with the experience and formal pattern (including videos) to finish this top at home!

Even if you won’t be attending QuiltCon, I want to know: Have you tried y-seams, and what’s your verdict on them?

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How to Sew and Quilt on the Cheap / Beauties Pageant 339

If there is one subject quilters can agree on it is this: Quilting is an expensive hobby. Fabric seems to cost more and more every year, and if I add longarming to my tally, the total project price takes a big leap upward.

In general, though I’m fiscally conservative—it’s just my personality. Since I started publishing patterns, my hobby has become self-sufficient. That doesn’t mean, however, that I buy quilting supplies with abandon. Too much of a good thing can be overwhelming and undermine my creativity.

If you want to get smarter about your quilty purchases, consider these points ...

Fabric

1. Start with your stash. 

When there’s a new project on the horizon, I shop my stash first. Too often I am tempted to order a new blender or buy a new background fabric only to discover that I already own a perfectly lovely substitute. 

It helps if I know what I have. Organizing my fabric in one consolidated place in my house—a project I tackled a few years ago—makes this easier.

2. Buy what you need for the project at hand. 

Buying fabrics because you like them or because you’re afraid you won’t be able to find them in the future is a sure-fire way to amass fabric quickly. I try to buy just the material needed for the next project or two. There will always be another beautiful, new fabric collection, and I can often find out-of-production lines on the secondary market after they disappear from quilt shops (and sometimes at better prices than they originally sold for).

Pro tip: Unsubscribing to quilt shop newsletters reduces the temptation to buy fabric just because I like it or because it’s on sale. 

3. Sew with solids.

Do you know what’s less expensive than the latest and greatest fabric collection? Solids. I find I can save up to $4 or $5 per yard when I sew with solids instead of printed quilting cottons. 

4. Buy smaller cuts.

Don’t buy a half-yard when a fat quarter will do the job. Say you want to sew a project with a scrappy low-volume background. Quarter yards (fat or skinny) will help you achieve that scrappy look without breaking the bank and without creating the scraps that half-yards would.

The challenge here is often finding a good source of quarter yards. I always start with my local quilt shop, because online fabric retailers usually have a minimum cutting size, but there are some online options for fat quarters. French Fry Quilt Company, for example, is a modern fabric retailer that offers its entire stock in fat quarters.

5. Buy local.

The benefit of buying in person is that I make smarter purchases, buying fabrics that are more likely to coordinate with the yardage I already have. Too often I find myself making an online purchase only to realize the fabrics aren’t quite right once I have them in hand. (And so the stash grows!)

6. Buy secondhand or trade with friends.

I’ve found great deals on older fabric lines on Instagram or FeelGood Fibers. I’ve also arranged a trade with friends. One quilty friend gave me unbridled access to her bin of 2.5-inch scraps, and I left her with a cut of fabric from my stash that I knew she would use faster than I could. It was a win-win!

7. Sell what you don’t use.

I’ve had good success selling fabric—including bundles, yardage, and scraps—on both Instagram and FeelGood Fibers.

Quilting

8. Quilt some of your own projects.

I had made a few dozen quilts before I started sending projects out for longarming services, so I’m adept at quilting my own projects with a walking foot. I’ve even ventured into free-motion quilting with good success. If quilting is new to you, start with small projects and grow from there.

I quilt all of the baby quilts I make and anything that would benefit from my expertise in straight-line quilting. Projects bigger than a 72-inch square by default go to a longarmer, as do more angular patterns that would benefit from swirly quilting designs.

9. Buy batting in bulk and use up the scraps.

I buy batting by the bolt. My top choice is the Warm Company’s Warm & White. I think it’s good value for my money, and the white (as opposed to, say, Warm & Natural) works well with my usual white or cream background fabrics.

I also save my scraps and cobble them together with a zigzag stitch to make bigger, more usable pieces.

Notions

10. Avoid buying unnecessary notions.

I don’t invest in trendy notions or gadgets. Anything that I’d use on a single project is rarely worth the cost. 

Instead of buying specialty rulers, I make sure my tried-and-true square and rectangular ones are in good working order and replace them as needed. Instead of buying expensive paper for foundation paper piecing, I buy a ream of 8.5-inch by 11-inch newsprint. I buy inexpensive irons at Target and store WIPs on coat hangers, in plastic Ziploc bags (which I use over and over again), or in plastic bins.

I’m sure you have your own tricks to make smart purchases. Share your tips in the comments below!

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Festive Flurries Pattern Release / Beauties Pageant 338

I have sewn like Santa’s star employee this past month, riding the Christmas in July vibes to their very end and finishing mulitiple wintery quilting projects along the way. I wrapped up a Christmassy Five-Star Experience as well as an Ornament Collection runner. (See them both pictured here.) It seems fitting, then, that on this last day in July I release my latest pattern: Festive Flurries.

Festive Flurries is a very "me" design. I love the pattern’s oversize blocks, offset rows, and snowflakes that seem to continue on beyond the quilt’s edges. 

The pattern features four sizes: runner, child, small throw, and large throw. I used a fat quarter bundle of Kimberly Kight’s Merry Happy to sew up my small throw, but I could have just as easily used quarter-yard cuts. 

Want to get an early start on your winter sewing? Festive Flurries is available for purchase in the From Bolt to Beauty pattern shop. 

Through the end of the weekend (Sunday, August 2), this pattern is 50% off the regular retail price. (No code necessary. Discount appears in cart.) It’s just an early holiday gift from me to you—and perhaps the motivation you need to get going on wintry projects!

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