Tell Me About Pre-Cuts: Day One

I still remember the first time I discovered a Jelly Roll. Oh, not the one that is tasty and made of sponge cake and strawberry jelly inside! That was decades and decades ago and my mom, who worked in a bakery, would bring them home all the time.

Strawberry Jelly Roll

I'm talking about the time as editor of Quilt Magazine, we received this new, "fandangled" pile of pre-cut strips from Moda. I was captivated and they went on to take the quilting world by storm.

Spring Fling Jelly Roll (2006)

A Jelly Roll is a bundle of 2-1/2" x wof strips, usually with around 40 of those strips. Let me do the math: that's 3 yards of fabric - a little piece of every print from an entire collection (sometimes there are 2 or 3 of a print if the collection has a limited number of skus). That amounts to between $10 and $14 a yard. But they've done ALL the cutting for you - whew!

Here it is unrolled. But first, note the frayed edges in the photo above. This was before fabric companies began pinking the edges (those zig-zag cuts we find annoying).

Here's the quilt I made using the Spring Fling jelly roll. Simple, yet they let the fabrics do all the talking. I used a traditional Logs and Mortar block.

Logs and Mortar Jelly Roll Quilt

I received a Jelly Roll in browns. I decided to make a basket and what do you think? Even the "grass" is pieced using 2-1/2" squares. This collection was called Kansas Troubles. I have this hanging in my bedroom. It's got to be close to 20 years old!

Kansas Troubles quilt: 52" x 52"

My Half Hexagon Braid quilt is perfect for a Jelly Roll. I've made this using 3" strips, but the 2-1/2" size with Jelly Roll Strips is perfect. You get so much fabric and color variety. And there's no waste!

Half Hexagon Braid quilt using a jelly roll

I made a larger one, which was published in a Fons and Porter magazine several years ago (it's included with the smaller version above).

Half Hexagon Braid quilt: 49" x 52"

Then there's my Hexagon Spiderweb quilt that was the basis for a popular workshop about 10 years ago. My students received kits of jelly roll strips and we pieced and cut our strips to make these amazing spiderwebs (with no spiders, of course!)

Hexagon Spiderweb: 40" x 48"

I've made other quilts using these wonderful bundles of 2-1/2" strips, aka Jelly Rolls. But I think that's enough for now.