Whenever we hear the term quilting, we imagine a beautiful quilt. It’s the process of cutting, piecing, and stitching the different layers of clothes together.
For some, the process of cutting and piecing different fabrics can be a bit overwhelming as it requires extra time and extra effort, which can make their quilting work more tedious.
Is there any way to reduce the workload without compromising with the quilt?
Well, the answer is Yes!
You can use jelly rolls to reduce your workload and save precious time. These 2½ inch fabrics strips have different names by different manufacturers.
These precut fabric strips can reduce your workload to a great extent. By purchasing these rolls from the market, you can ensure that you don’t need to cut the fabrics yourself.
You can use jelly roll fabric and start your quilting process. You can choose jelly roll fabrics according to your need and taste. It dramatically reduces your quilting time.
Let’s have a look at Jelly rolls and their uses.
What are Jelly Rolls?
Jelly rolls are a bundle of precut fabrics. They are used to make quilts and other sewing projects.
Jelly rolls are 2½ inch wide strips of fabric. With jelly rolls, we can cut down our fabric prep time significantly. Jelly rolls enable us to perform the best part of the quilting process, i.e. stitching the fabrics together.
As jelly rolls are precut fabrics, we don’t need to waste our time cutting and piecing the materials with the tools. We can use the jelly roll fabrics for our work.
Jelly rolls 2 1/2″ wide by 44″-45″ long. The majority of jelly rolls bundle contains 40 strips, each with multiple coordinating colours and print.
Other Names Used for Jelly Rolls?
There are different manufacturers of jelly rolls in the market. Not everyone calls these bundles of fabrics as jelly rolls. Each manufacturer has its other product, and they all have different names.
Let’s have a look at different names of Jelly rolls,
- Moda- Jelly roll
- Free spirit- Design Roll
- Robert Kaufman Fabrics- Roll up
- Riley Blake- Rolie polie
- Island Batik- Strip Sets
- Wilmington Prints- 40 karat gems
- Timeless treasure- Tonga Treats
The most famous term, known as Jelly roll, was initially tossed by Moda fabrics. Rest other companies use different names for their product.
Use of Jelly Rolls in Quilting
Jelly rolls can be very helpful in the quilting process. We can easily use the jelly rolls fabrics for the quilting. We need to use the fabric and stitch it together to make a quilt.
Jelly roll quilts can be modern or traditional, complex or straightforward. It all depends on the quilter and what they want to make out of it.
In most cases, jelly roll quilts are simple in design and pattern. Jelly rolls quilts are best for beginners as they are comparatively easier than traditional quilts.
If you are an advanced-level quilter and want to do a quick project, then jelly roll quilts are your best bet.
Generally, a jelly roll quilt is created by piecing the fabrics together to create a patchwork design or pattern. The rest of the quilting and stitching process is the same.
The only significant difference is that you save a lot of time in fabric preparation and finish your project quickly.
Advantages of Jelly Roll in Quilting
Most quilters love fabric precuts, either charm packs, jelly rolls, or layer cakes, because they decrease cutting time, reduce the workload and increase working speed.
Let’s have a look at the different advantages of the jelly rolls,
- Faster quilting- Precut fabrics like a jelly roll, charm packs, and layer cakes can significantly decrease your quilting time as we don’t need to waste our time cutting and piecing fabrics.
- Variety of Fabrics- Jelly rolls contains 40 strips of different colours and patterns. We can easily mix other jelly rolls to create our quilt without tension.
- Quick Piecing: As all of the fabrics are precut, we don’t need to spend our time cutting different fabrics and pieces. This will save our time and increase our piecing speed.
These are some of the advantages of the jelly roll.
Making Your Jelly Rolls Strip
If you’ve never made your jelly roll strip before, then it may seem like a daunting task.
But don’t worry! We’re here to help. Follow these steps to create your own Jelly Roll Strip.
1) Gather together the fabrics of your choice.
2) Mix them up in a tub or container.
3) Separate the fabrics according to colour and type.
4) Cut them into long strips.
5) Fold them in half to make 2½ inch pieces.
6) Sew the strips together end-to-end in order.
In this way, you can create DIY jelly rolls according to your requirement and vision.
How Many Jelly Rolls are Required to Make a Quilt?
So, how many jelly rolls are required to make a quilt?
The answer is totally up to your creativity. You can use as many or as few of the fabric strips as you like. Jelly roll fabrics are available in different sizes. So, it all depends on how big or small you want your quilt to be.
You can use 3-12 yards of fabric strips for 16″ x 16″ blocks or 8-24 yards of fabric strips for 12″ x 12″ blocks.
If you’re looking to create something more detailed, you should opt for smaller jelly rolls. It would take more time, but it’ll be worth it.
Conclusion
We now know how helpful a jelly roll can be for your quilt. A jelly roll can increase your quilt and piecing speed while making your work easy.
If you are a beginner then you can use jelly rolls in your projects to make your quilting experience smooth and quick. You can easily buy jelly rolls from shops or online.
A jelly roll is best for simple quilts. If you are looking for complex quilts, you should avoid jelly rolls and cut out your fabrics according to your needs and requirements.
I hope you like the article. Happy quilting!
