To the left, to the left,
To the right, to the right,
Let me see that JELLY ROLL!
My friend Miyako, who I see as a quilting expert, asked me to join her and a few people to make jelly roll race quilts. Me!? Sure, why not? I’m no pro at sewing, but I definitely prefer quilts over making clothes. And with her being extremely talented in the art of quilt making it would be a great opportunity for me to learn something new.
First of all, what is a jelly roll race quilt?
It’s a quilt made from a roll of quilting strips. It’s pretty easy and quick and that’s how the race goes. There are a bunch of different ways to do them, but the idea is when you are finished you will have a quilt with random seams and colors. The quilt is approximately 50”x60” making it more of a throw size.
Is it actually a race?
We did not race, but after looking on the internet, it looks like people actually do!
There are a million ways to do this, but this is how I did mine. It was really quick and simple.
Step 1) Buy your jelly roll fabric. I bought mine from the Missouri Star Quilt Company, but I’m sure there are tons of sites to get them from that range in price. Mine was on the less expensive side.
Step 2) Unroll your fabric and trim all of the salvage off. Some people like the fabric to go completely random, but for mine I made sure to keep my fabric in the order that it came in.
Step 3) Sew all the strips together (end to end) into one super long strip. I did 1/4” seams.
Step 4) Cut 18” off of one strip, then fold the super long strip in half and sew along one edge, again with 1/4” seams.
Step 5) Cut the folded edge, fold in half again and sew along one edge.
Step 6) You will repeat step 5 until you have 32 rows. Each time you fold the strips in half you will double the number of rows. The first couple feel like forever, but 32 comes pretty quick.
Step 7) Once you have 32 rows your quilt top is done! You can iron your seems as you go, or wait until your done. I did them as I went, but next time I’ll wait and do them at the end.
This gets your quilt top done. Now all you have to do is get the batting, binding and all that other stuff done. But if you’re like me, let this sit around on a shelf in your closet for a year, then maybe finish it.
