NSAJRD – How to Make a Jelly Roll Quilt Tutorial

This Jelly Roll Quilt Tutorial came about because last Saturday was National Sew a Jelly Roll Day, and I participated for the first time.

This is the first time I’ve worked on a quilt and shared updates on Instagram BEFORE finishing the quilt and writing up the tutorial.

But, because I cannot resist writing up and sharing the quilting that I do, I took a lot more photos while quilting than what I shared online, so that I could offer a jelly roll quilt tutorial.

Jelly Roll Strips

First of all, what is a jelly roll?

A jelly roll is the name of a fabric precut. This means that instead of buying fabric by the yard, you can buy fabric (generally from one collection) that has already been cut into usable pieces. There are a variety of different precuts, and lots and lots of patterns and tutorials available for each type.

A jelly roll is fabric that has been cut into strips 2½” by 40”-42” inches. There are typically 40 strips per jelly roll.

Because pre-cut fabric tends to cost more than by the yard fabric, and because I already have too much fabric in my house, I cut my own jelly roll!

I pulled together lots of fabrics that coordinated to this pretty floral and cut my own 2½” strips.

Jelly Roll Quilt Tutorial Supplies

Total supplies needed for this jelly roll quilt tutorial:

1 Jelly Roll (only 36 strips needed, not all 40}

Sashing Fabric: 2 yards

Binding Fabric: ½ yard

I decided to use a variety of the same fabrics for my binding, so I cut 44 total strips, and pulled 8 of them out for binding.

Making the Quilt Blocks

This Jelly Roll Quilt Tutorial is essentially a Rail Fence quilt pattern, with sashing AND set On Point.

To start, cut sashing fabric into 3 strips 7” by WOF (width of fabric) and 31 strips 1½” by WOF. Sub cut the 7” strips into 13 7” squares. Don’t do any sub-cutting of the 1½” strips yet.

Set aside all sashing fabric for the moment.

Sew 24 jelly roll strips into 12 pairs. Sew along the length of the strip, using a ¼” seam allowance. The strip pair will measure 4½” wide at this point. If it doesn’t, double check your ¼” seam allowance.

Alternating direction, sew a third strip to each of the strip pairs. Sew along the length of the strip, using a ¼” seam allowance. The strip set will measure 6½” wide at this point. If it doesn’t, double check your ¼” seam allowance.

From seven of your strip sets, sub cut 6½” squares. You can get six squares per strip set, for 42 6½” squares total.

Continuing to alternate directions, sew a 1½” sashing strip to both sides of the remaining five strip sets. The strip set will measure 8½” wide at this point. If it doesn’t, double check your ¼” seam allowance. Press towards the sashing fabric, unless it is very thin and light like mine, in which case press towards the jelly roll fabrics.

From each of the five strip sets, sub cut six rectangles that measure 8½” by 6½”. You need 30 total of these rectangles.

Orient your rectangles and squares as seen in the photo below. The rectangles will be on the left and will have vertical stripes and measure 6½” tall by 8½” wide. The 6½” squares will be on the right and have horizontal stripes. From here on out I am going to refer to the squares made from jelly roll strips as either horizontal or vertical. What I mean by that is the stripes within the square.

Sew a 6½” square to the right side of all 30 of the 6½” by 8½” rectangles. Press towards the sashing fabric unless it’s very light and thin, in which case press towards the jelly roll fabric.

From four of the 1½” sashing strips, sub cut 24 units that are 6½”. That’s six units per strip, 24 units total.

Sew one 6½” sashing unit to the side of 12 of the remaining 6½” squares. Note orientation of square in photo below, it should have horizontal stripes and the sashing strip will be added to the right-hand side. Press towards the sashing fabric unless it’s very light and thin, in which case press towards the jelly roll fabric.

The next step is to add one more horizontal unit to the pairs made earlier. Orient the horizontal unit to the have the sashing strip on the right side, and the pair to also have the sashing on the right side. Notice that a vertical unit is in the center, and both squares on the sides have horizontal stripes.

Using a ¼” seam allowance, sew the third square to the right side of the previous pair. Repeat to make 10 total.

Sew two of the remaining 6½” sashing units to the other side of the two remaining 6½” squares.

Laying Out the Jelly Roll Quilt Top

Now all of the quilt units are made, and it’s time to lay out the quilt top!

Start in the upper right corner with one square that has a sashing piece on both sides, followed a set of three squares. It does not matter at this point if the sashing is on the left or right side of the group of three.

The next row will have five squares and be made up of one pair and one unit of three. Again, it does not matter if the sashing is on the left or right.

Continue laying out rows. The next will have 7 squares, then 9, and finally 11 squares. Do the same coming from the lower left corner, starting with one square, then 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11.

And, STOP!

It’s time for Inspector Cat to do the inspecting.

Do not skip this step!

Inspector Cat has a very important job to do, and will not appreciate you preventing her from working.

If your quilt does not pass inspection, rearrange blocks until you (or your Inspector Cat) are pleased with the distribution of fabrics.

Place the remaining 10 sashing pieces at the end of each row, either to the left or right. This is why it didn’t matter a few steps ago if your sashing was on the left or the right of rows. Now it’s on BOTH the left and the right!

Sew squares, blocks and sashing into rows. Here is what the lower left corner of the quilt looks like.

Take the 13 7” squares of sashing and cut them all in half along the diagonal. Place a sashing triangle at both ends of every row. You should have two left remaining; we’ll get to those two in a moment.

I do not trust myself to orient my sashing triangles correctly, unless the triangles are added while the rows are laid out on the floor.

Sew the sashing triangles to the ends of all of the rows. This photo only shows the bottom left corner of the quilt, but you are going to do this for the whole quilt.

Now it’s time to add the rest of the sashing! You need 13 long skinny strips of sashing but they vary in length.

I’m going to let you in on one of the dirty little secrets of quilting. This goes against all sashing and quilting advice, but I do not care to trim my strips of sashing down to the correct size until AFTER they have been sewn into the quilt. I feel the same way about borders, but most quilters will tell you that I am wrong.

If you want to measure your rows and trim your sashing more precisely before sewing, go for it! You have to quilt in a way that makes you comfortable. Sometimes that is going to mean following directions exactly, and sometimes it is going to mean estimating. (I don’t usually follow recipes exactly either, but sort of eyeball it. I know, I’m awful!)

Longer strips can be made by sewing 1½” sashing strips together on the short edge. You will need:

90” strip (make one)

80” strips (make two)

66” strips (make two)

52” strips (make two)

38” strips (make two)

24” strips (make two)

10” strips (make two)

Starting with 10” strip on the outside of the first row (towards the corner) and a 24” strip between the row of one square and the row of three squares, continue placing the sashing strips in between the rows. This photo shows most of the lower left corner of the quilt.

Sew the rows to the sashing, using a ¼” seam allowance and press towards the sashing fabric unless it’s very light and thin, in which case press towards the jelly roll fabric.

I didn’t take a photo of it, but those last two sashing triangles will go in the upper right corner and the lower left corner to finish out the quilt.

And, ta da! Quilt top made!

I love, love, love the stain glass window effect created by hanging this quilt top in the window. Although not my finest show-the-whole-quilt photography, these photos are striking in their own way. And, more photos can be taken once the quilt is quilted and bound.