Jelly Roll or not??
 

I was just killing some time and figured I'd practice with a jelly roll I bought. Only thing is I bought it on line and it didn't come in a "roll" form. I think I only got half a roll!! But, I'm not sure since I've never done this before. Does anyone know how big your quilt top should be if you sew up a jelly roll?

I can certainly still work with what I made, but I'm just wondering if I bought what I thought I was buying. :)

It kind of depends on what pattern you pick and how many strips came in your jelly roll. Also, the more seams you have in your top, the smaller it will be. I made a zigzag quilt with 2 jelly rolls (40 strips of fabric in each roll) that measures 68" x 68". A typical jelly roll race quilt measures about 50" x 64". If you think you need more fabric, you can always expand and supplement with a neutral-colored jelly roll, or strips of complimentary fabric from your stash. :)

I won a "jelly roll" at a retreat, but it only had 22 strips in it. I managed to find coordinating fabrics. (after reading that most jelly rolls were 40+ strips I was surprised that mine wasn't called a mini roll or something)

I'm new to quilting.. could you explain what a jelly roll is used for?

A jelly roll is a bundle of precut 2.5" strips of fabric cut WOF. It normally is one or two strips from each fabric in a particular line. since the number of fabrics in a line can vary, the number of strips in the bundle can also vary. Usually it's between 20 & 42, so you need to be careful when you buy to understand how many strips are in the bundle. Most commercial patterns that you see are figuring on around 40, but the pattern should specify the number of strips, not just 'a jelly roll'

depends on how many strips were in your jelly roll- they vary- some contain 20 strips, some 40 or more- a jelly roll strip is 2 1/2" x width of fabric (generally about 42" long) so if you have 20 strips and you sew them together you will have a piece of pieced fabric that measures about 40" x 42" (or a bit less if you cut off the salvages on the ends of each strip) if you have a 40 strip jelly roll and sew them all together side by side it will measure about 80" x 42"...different collections have different amounts of fabrics - usually a jelly roll bundle will tell you how many strips are included....the only (common denomenator ) is the length.

Here's some good info from Jenny: http://blog.missouriquiltco.com/what-can-a-precut-make/

And some more inspiration: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...mg.GXwI6W61x-A

A few years ago, jelly rolls were mostly 40 strips. Now, some are 40 strips, but more are 20 strips. Price hasn't changed or gone down, though. I guess that's because the price of cotton went up so much.

Jelly roll quilts intrigue me - but I'm building my own jelly rolls. When I buy fabric I cut strips of 1 1/2", 2 1/2 " and 2 7/8". At least mine will have been prewashed. There are so many really nice patterns. I just want to do everything. Wonder if I will live long enough!!