WHAT ARE JELLY ROLLS?
So I put my big girl pants on and plunged into my first quilt. I decided that I wanted to use a jelly roll, as it reduced the amount of cutting out that I had to do.
What is a jelly roll? A jelly roll is a curated bundle of 2.5" strips of pre-cut quilt fabric, featuring an array of coordinating fabric from a designer's collection. (By the way in quilting, we always talk in inches - sorry). The hard work of co-ordinating colours and designs has been done for you. There are usually 40 strips in a bundle. The pattern/tutorial should tell you how many jelly rolls you will need.
My first baby quilt was the Rail Fence Quilt. (If you can sew 2 pieces of material together, you can make this quilt.) I suggest that you look up a tutorial - "easy jelly roll quilts". A great tutorial can be found on materialgirlquilts.com for a Rail Fence quilt.
There are lots of variations when you sew 3 or 4 strips together, cut them up, place them in the pattern you want, sew the blocks into rows and then sew the rows together. Pop a border or 2 around your rectangle, quilt, sew the binding on, hand sew it down and "hey presto" you have a quilt! Am I going to fast for you?
Don't worry quilting is step by step. First find your tutorial, then buy your jelly roll. Spotlight often has great discount specials. Your local fabric/quilt shop will probably stock pre-cuts (jelly rolls, charm packs, layer cakes). Another way to buy pre-cuts and gorgeous fabrics is online. Of course postage and delivery should be better in your own country but if there is something extra special that you want, the U S A has thousands of on-line quilt shops. But remember it is great for everyone to shop local if you can.
Secondly, watch the tutorial a few times so that you feel comfortable with your next step. As I said in my first post, stop the video, rewind, watch it again until you've got it. If possible, have your computer or phone near where you are working. Take it slow and just give it a go. Remember, measure twice, cut once!
Don't forget to leave a message, I'd love to hear from you xx.
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