Originally Posted by bearisgray
I always wondered about the measurements too for all those things that came with pinked edges.
So - the measurement is from tip to tip of the zigzags?
Welcome! Glad you're here!
In a perfect world, yes they would measure exactly 2.5" from tip to tip across the middle of the strip. But my experience with them (at least with Moda ones) has been that they are not. They are actually about 2 and 9/16" from tip to tip, which is about 1/16" more than 2.5". That doesn't sound like much, but compounded over say 4 squares that adds up to about a 1/4" difference. So if you try to sew it to an 8.5" unfinished square, you'll have an issue. It's the one thing that makes me go "Grrr" about jelly rolls, otherwise I love them. Every one that I have measured has been like this and I'm using metal rulers, so it's not like my ruler has "shrunk".
I first noticed it when trying to join large squares to pieced squares from the jelly rolls, which is what made me take a ruler to them. And then I measured another, and another, etc. So beware!