If you have big pieces, sew them and then cut lengths...
Remember to cut the selveges all off first.

Hi Everyone Just new to join the Quilting Board Forum
Would like do do my own jelly roll i know the width is 2 1/2 inch what about the lenght.Can the strips be all the one length does it matter if they are not and do you stagger patterns or are all the same patterns together.
Thanks for any help Jenny

"Officially" a jelly roll is 2.5" by the WOF (or width of fabric selvage to selvage) -- which can be anything from 40" - 44" of usable fabric . (The manufacturers vary the width of the fabric and vary the width of the selvage). They are usually packaged 40 strips to a package. If you are doing a pattern, that is what they pattern designer is counting on. You can cut your strips any length (I frequently cut the 2.5" strips from fat quarters, so my strips are about 20-22" by 2.5" and I adjust the patterns accordingly).

I was watching Quilt In a Day a few weeks ago and Eleanor Burns (who started using the 2.5" strips LONG before Moda made jelly rolls) said the reason she used them is because there was some kind of garment factory near where she was and the left over waist bands were 2.5" wide. Interesting where this all came from.

I cut a bunch of my scraps into 2 1/2 strips and made a jelly roll quilt out of them. It looked really cool to me, you have to like scrappy though which I love.

I used my scraps and cut into 2 1/2" strips. Did not count how many, sewed together until the pile was as high as my chair seat. Some of the scraps were short and some longer than the 40" requirement. Found the 2 ends and began sewing together. Folded the long snake, it went from one end of the room to the other, about 60'. Folded and did it again. Over and over, when the the quilt was the size I wanted I added boarders. It became a queen size quilt. The fold will twist, so either un-sew or cut when you get to the end.