Monday, August 15, 2011

Jelly Roll Toss quick quilt - tutorial

Ingredients:  1 jelly roll (I used a Moda jelly roll that had 3 repeats of each fabric in it).

First I divided the jelly roll into three piles with one of each fabric in each pile.

Next, about 4 at a time, I line up the 4 strips and cut off the selvage.



Now cut 5 2 1/2" squares from the end.


Straighten up the remainder of the strip set and do a random cut of the stack (vertical) into 2 remaining strips.  NOTE:  If you are a `matchy-matchy`quilter, the random cut of the stack may not appeal to you because when you get the strips in rows, not everything will line up.  If that`s important to you then you will want to measure out your staggered cuts by an amount divisible by 2 1/2".



When you have done this to the whole jelly roll, toss the 2 1/2" squares into a box, basket or bag to randomize them.  Stack the remaining sliced jelly rolls into two piles in the same order.

Sew the 2 1/2" squares into sets of 5 2 1/2" squares.  Press seams in one direction and set them aside.  When all of the 2 1/2" squares have been sewn into units of 5 per unit, take one 5 square unit and sew match them with a set of remaining strips with the remaining strips on either side of the 5 square units.   Here they are in a pile ready for pressing:



Now comes the layout.  Try to liberate your thinking and not force yourself to be matchy matchy and just enjoy the colour flow and balance.  Here`s what mine looks like almost done:




This quilt is too big for a baby quilt so I may just add some nice dark brown borders and call it a twin!  Or maybe a girl quilt for a girl`s toddler bed...you know, a big girl bed!  Anyway, I have started praying about who this one is for and it is yet unknown.  We`ll see!

Until next time,

Mavis

PS - Warning!  The jelly rolls must not be cut properly on the grain.  The quilt top bows.  When I tried to square it up it was off by about 4 inches (determined by folding it in half as you would fabric that has been washed and going with the natural grain).  I was most disappointed.  So, since it was too big for a baby quilt and not behaving, I chopped it into 2 to make 2 baby quilts.

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