A Race Using Strips – The Winner is a Quilt

Last night I heard about a super easy quilt that uses 2 ½” strips and was great for kids. 

My grand niece had been over and we had created a new top and matching hair bow the day before.  I asked her to pick two fabrics and she chose Halloween prints.  She was really into playing with the fabric pieces (she is six), and I was grateful to have her present to frequently check the fit.  It was huge success and she loved her top and bow.  It is the beginning (hopefully) of a long love affair for fabric and creating for our little girl.  In the next few sessions, I hope to get her into using the sewing machine.





So last night on the way to “quilt group,” we were talking about my experience and Ann tells me about this super easy quilt that uses 2 ½” strips.  It is great for beginning kid sewers as it finished quickly and simply.  I made a mental note and checked it out when I got home.  Here is the link to the pattern:

http://www.heirloomcreations.net/sewing-tips/the-jelly-roll-1600/

As I read the directions I was totally intrigued.  The mathematics of the quilt had me right away.  I mentally walked through the steps which seemed incredibly simple.  You would sew all 40 strips end to end on the diagonal.  Then you would grab the beginning and the end and sew them together until you hit the fold, snip it apart.  You now have a long strip two wide.  You repeat this step five times and you are done.  Your quilt is approximately 48” x 64”.  A good throw size even without borders.  So, I start thinking, what if I had a different number of strips?  Since the length of the quilt is built on the powers of 2, it would jump from 64 inches to 128 inches.  I guess that would work, but that is a very long quilt!  It could be done, but I decided if I didn’t think this one was big enough I could always add borders.

40 strips – 48” x 64”

120 strips – 72” x 128”

160 strips – 96” x 128”

My mind started thinking about how cool Christmas strips would look, or maybe scrappy autumn colors.  Then I remembered some floral strips I had stashed away in a drawer.  They were very shabby chic and were the fabrics I had used to make my niece’s curtains and table decorations.  She had asked for a throw to put over the loveseat – this would work!  Now with a purpose I was ready to roll (no pun intended)!  I decided to document the progress so I could share it with you, my quilting buddies. 

I began at noon with a Sam the Cooking Guy episode on to entertain me (sewing strips takes very little mental energy).  Quickly all forty were sewn end to end.  You need to cut 18” off of one the strips so that the seams will offset.  

Oh, and a side note, mostly to myself, change your stinkin’ needle once in a while!  The results are amazing!  Okay, that was just for me.  I tend to wait until a needle actually breaks, frugal to the max.  Does not make for efficient quilting!

Okay, that did not take very long and now I have each end in hand and am ready to sew my first LONG seam (12:45 – I am taking breaks to take pictures, watch Sam, and type – you will surely be quicker).  I am a pressing mine as I go – my iron is my best friend.  As many of you know, I am not a pressing snob, just a fanatic.

Wow, that was a long, long strip.  I was expecting the strips to be twisted at the end as I just picked up the ends and started without any regard.  But, mine ended up just as a fold.  I snipped it and lap one was done!  

As I pressed the first lap it was fun seeing the different fabrics and how they looked next to the other strips.  Since my bundle had some repeats, I have some areas where the strips were the same.  Hopefully, this will play out and be okay in the end!

Time for lap two!  At the end of this one, I did have a twist in the row.  I snipped it apart and continued.  Since my snip was approximate, I was off a little at the end of the row, so I trimmed it up.  Pressed and ready, here it is before lap three!

Lap two finished!  Onto lap three!

Lap three was quick, now lap four.

Lap four done - one more to go!

Time finished was 3:12 pm.  One cooking show, one Mozart symphony, and two bible studies later – done.  Without having to pin, this really zipped along.  I did stop to do a load of laundry, answer the phone and put some groceries away.  It is really possible to finish this pattern in a short workshop time frame.  I am not going to add borders (lazy) and simply straight line quilt this on my machine and bind.  

Now that it is done, I have a few thoughts.

1. Prewind those bobbins baby!  You will want to keep going on that long seam.  It is a total bummer to find out you have sewn several feet without bobbin (doh)!

2. Don’t sweat what fabric touches.  I thought I had carefully sorted my fabrics.  There were some repeats in there and I was concerned on the first seam when two exact fabrics ended up next to one another!  OH NO!  The chances, right?  Okay, had to let that go, I did have some repeats in my stack so that was to be expected.  There is no planning and you have to just “let go and let fabric live.”

3. I can’t help but think how fun this would be for a class or workshop.  A theme could be made: Christmas, Spring Florals, or Patriotic fabrics.  Each quilter would bring 40 – 2 ½” strips of the same fabric (purchase 3 yards of one fabric to do this).  As each quilter arrives, they would take their forty strips and collate them out onto the table.  After everyone arrives, each quilter receives a unique assortment of themed strips!  They would then begin making their own quilt and would leave workshop with a completed top!  If the quilter wanted to add borders, I would suggest buying an extra yard of their original fabric.  This extra yard could be cut into 6 – 5 ½” strips for the border.  Here are the guidelines for the number of quilters in your group to insure only one of each fabric:

• What to bring:
• 40 or more quilters – bring 40 – 2 ½” strips of one fabric.
• 20 - 39 quilters – bring 20 – 2 ½” strips of one fabric, 20 – 2 ½” strips on a second fabric.
• 10 – 19 quilters – bring 10 – 2 ½” strips of four different fabrics.
• 5 – 9 quilters – bring 5 – 2 ½” strips of eight different fabrics.
• Let’s say you have 23 people in your group.  The first quilter would collate (left to right) their strips into twenty-three piles and leave a post it note where they placed the last strip.  The next quilter would begin just to the right of the post it.  He/She would leave the post it note where they finish.  When the last of the twenty-three has finished, each pile will have 40 strips.

So in review – I love this quilt.  I enjoyed how quickly it went together without ANY pins.  There was no waste, unless you want to count the 18” piece that you removed from the first strip.  Each fabric stands on its own and there is no planning or designing necessary to make a great product.  

I also believe it would be a great quilt to make with little ones.  Seam allowances can be fudged, no pins are necessary, and no matching seams.  Would I replace this for a quilt camp?  No.  There is a place for a structured quilt class that teaches the basics and this would not fall into that category.  This is simply a fun way to make a fast quilt and would be easy to do with a "new to the quilt world kid."

Now, do you have three hours?  You could finish a quilt top!