Monday, April 5, 2010

Working with Jelly Rolls

"Janieg" made a comment today that I thought some of you might be interested in.  She said:

"I'm struggling with block 3. After having it come out smaller that the other blocks, redoing, THEN measuring the strips....to my dismay, I found that one strip is approx 1/8 inch narrower than the standard 2.5 inches. So I'm doing it again, making the seams narrower. I could have chosen another fabric, but I really liked the one I picked. When I finish to my satisfaction, I will photo and post. In the meantime, I suggest measuring your strips. Mine was a commercial jelly roll."

Sometimes the pinked edge of precuts makes quilting interesting.  I often measure my charm packs to see where 5" is.  Sometimes the outer edge of the pinking is 5."  Other times it is the inside of the pinking that is the 5."  I actually haven't worked with jelly rolls much which is why I wanted to do this sampler quilt. 

Just something to consider if you have found your blocks frustrating to put together like Janieg.  (Also make sure you are sewing a 1/4" seam and are pressing well.  These blocks shouldn't be very frustrating.)  Thanks Janieg for that observation. 

9 comments:

janieg said...

My jelly roll is a Hoffman Batik Bali Pop. Don't know if this makes a difference. Thanks so very much.

Jonathan said...

Oh how frustrating! Thanks for posting your tips. I've measured my charm pack squares before too, and wondered the same thing. It can be really annoying. ☺

pdudgeon said...

thanks for the warning about the Hoffman Bali Pops. My jelly rolls are always Moda, and they measure right on the money.

Marie said...

I know how frustrating that can be - and I agree on the charm packs - where do they measure? It differs from pack to pack.

Loris said...

I have noticed that 5" charm packs mean the squares are anywhere from 4and a half inches to 5". From the same collection but not cut equally. I've only purchased from Moda.

Teresa said...

Isn't it amazing the difference 1/8 inch can make. We were working on a block in my club that was a lot of squares sewn together. I reminded the ladies to measure after each step, because when you have 16 seams across a row, being off 1/16 of an inch on each seams can add up to 2 inches over all the row. Dang..that is hard to deal with sometimes.

Grethe said...

Hi,Found you blog yesterday!
Trying now to join, Love Jelly Rolls,have found the one I would like to use,so during the weekend I intend making 1+2+3. I am then ready for block 4 on Monday. Hope I am not too late. Your button is already on my blog. I wrote a comment to you before. Great blog you have here.
I have already learned A LOT :o)

Gayla said...

I have a question--do you prewash the jelly rolls and cake layers--or use as is, because they are the same fabric, and therefore, should shrink the amount when laundered?

Moose on the Porch Quilts said...

I do not prewash precuts. The beauty of precuts is they are pre cut to the right size. Prewashing defeats that purpose. That being said, I don't like to prewash normally. I find when I am using similar fabrics, they shrink about the same amount so it looks fine. Just my two cents!