Jelly Roll Rug.........

I mentioned the other week about taking a jelly roll rug class, but it was cancelled due to a power outage.  It was rescheduled and I went to it yesterday (29th of May.)

It was a six hour class, but it will take a heck of a lot longer to finish it.  I decided to make mine out of fabric I had on hand, rather than a jelly roll kit.  A jelly roll kit is a package of 2 1/2 inch strips by the width of the fabric, and generally around 42 pieces.  So I cut out 42 2 /1/2 inch strips from the fabric below.  

You can also buy a package of batting that is already cut into one long roll of 2 1/2 inch width that is specifically made for a jelly roll rug. I had a couple of bags of batting scraps, so I chose to cut them into 2 1/4 inch strips and used them also.

 Donna our instructor wanted us to get a feel for what we had to do, so we had to sew the first six strips together and make a start on the rug.  Below is what that looked like.

 However back to the beginning you have to sew all your 2 1/2 inch strips of fabric together like you would if you were making quilt binding.  There is a tutorial here if you want to see how to do that.

 You then lay your batting down on the fabric.  Fold each side to the middle of the fabric and then fold in half and stitch along the edge.  There is a good tutorial here.

You carry on sewing in the batting until you are ready to run away.........believe me it will take a while to do that. If you are using up pieces of batting, we/I just butted them together, no extra sewing or tape was needed.

Once you have sewn in all the batting, you can now start on the rug.  You use a larger multi stitch zig-zag stitch. The key is not to twist the rug and keep your tension constant so as to keep it flat, otherwise you will end up with a giant bowl.

 One of the other ladies in the class was making a table runner, in the pink, blue and black jelly roll.  She had to pull out her stitching a couple of times as it was all crinkly and wavy. 

This will take me a little while to get this fully sewn but it's a project I will keep coming back too and will show you updates as I make progress.

The rug will be machine washable, and will be going by our patio doors.......now to just find the time to sew it!!