Jelly Roll Question
 

I purchased a jelly roll from Walmart and was extremely happy because it was in a sale pile. Now, I think I know why it was there! After sewing four strips together and cutting to make blocks, I found out that the strips were not the same width. Thus, my blocks as I tried to cut them to make the "4 Dudes Jelly Roll Quilt" are not the same size size! Help!!! what can I do to try to save it?

By the way I am a novice quilter and have fallen in love with the art.

I would measure the narrowest strip and use that as the determining factor in the block size. If this is the quilt I am thinking about, the block size is very forgiving. The size of the finished quilt will be a bit different, but you can fix that with borders.

Incidently -- the jelly roll batiks you get at LQS also have this problem. The best thing to do if you work with jelly rolls is make sure how wide the strips are before you start. (Some of the edges get frayed on some jelly rolls so again, not all of the strips are the same width).

That is common in precuts I hear, even with the top brands.

I did a Jelly Roll Race quilt with 2 WalMart jelly rolls and all of the strips were the same width-- the quilt came out big (48 strips instead of the 40 you get with brand names) and beautiful in yellow, black, white and grey! All for only $19.94 and two hours of my time. I'm a happy camper (and have the strips for 2 more from WM-- one is batiks!)

I prefer to cut my own strips for this reason.

But, you can always add 3 inches of sashing to each block then trim them all to the same size if you dobt want to make a smaller quilt than planned.

I think for the 3 dudes block you can get away with the strips not being the same size, you'll trimming the sqares anyway - if that's the one I'm thinking about-sew the strip sets together all around the block and then cut on the angle to get hst? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5Ixvjje310

I made this with all my scrappy leftover stips , just randomly sewed strips together with no care about size, then trimmed up the squares. I think it adds some character when the strips are different sizes. http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...ml#post4907649

The 2nd one,I had sewn all the blocks and when I laid them out someone said, "why didn't you do a square within a square instead of all that extra work?" Then I saw what she was talking about and went back to the video and realized I skipped a step. It's a design element now. I think it's interesting.

If this isn't the one you are talking about-ignore this entire post please.

I don't buy precuts often, only when they are a great price on clearance. I can mess up the cutting all by myself, I don't want to pay for someone elses bad cutting.

I've noticed two different brands of precuts at Walmart. The higher price brand is as good as fabric shops. The other brand is thinner fabric and has a stiff feel. I like the charm square selection better then the other precuts. The 100 piece charm square package is a great buy and very good quality fabric.

I just took a class recently with jelly roll strips and instructor told us that most rolls were not consistently cut. Her fix was to place mole skin 2 1/4 in on the right of needle. This will make your strips all the same making the adjustment in the seam allowance. It really worked

I guess that's why my jelly roll was in the "remnant" pile (lol) But, I will try again from the "regular" pile and actually measure before I start. Thanks loads!!

This works! It's the best way to work with any strips. Just subtract 1/4" from the measurement your strips are supposed to be when you buy them and put your tape that far away from the needle. Be sure that the right hand edge that is against the tape is even with the bottom fabric's edge and don't worry about the left side. Especially important when you're working with Bali strips since they're noted for being uneven.