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 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 I handle the strips.
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 13 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 they 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.
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.
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.
This 112-page book features 14 different jelly roll patterns, everything from quick runner projects to big bed-size quilts. The book was originally $27.95. Through September 21, you can get a signed copy for $22.50. Get your copy here.
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