- It's been a while since I've done a Stashbuster,
and viewers keep asking me to do one with jelly rolls.
And you know I love a challenge,
so today I have a cool pattern
where value does all the heavy lifting,
and to qualify to be a Stashbuster,
not only do you shop from your stash,
it's got to be fast, it's got to be easy,
and there's got to be little leftover scraps.
Stay to the end for directions
on how to download the free pattern.
So stick with me and I'll show you how to do it.
(bright music)
Hi there, I'm Karen Brown from Just Get It Done Quilts.
I give you tips, tricks and strategies
to help you make the quilt that you want to make.
And if you like what you see, please support the channel
by hitting that subscribe button.
This is my 8th quilt in the Stashbuster series,
and the first one where I use jelly rolls.
This quilt is perfect for when you need
a fast and easy project for a sudden gift,
or those times when you just need a simple project
so that you can burn up your stash
and take a break from a more complicated pattern.
(bright music)
This pattern can be made several different ways
depending on what you have.
The finished quilt size
is 56 inches by 56 inches without borders
and requires 40 with the fabric strips
that are 2 1/2 inches wide and at least 43 inches long.
This can be a jelly roll,
one that you buy or one that you make,
or just 40 assorted strips,
which might include old binding strips
scrapped with the fabric strips.
You can even piece your scraps into strips
as long as they are 2 1/2 inches wide
by 43 inches in length.
And you want to lay them out in two sets of 20,
going darkest to lightest.
The easiest part of working with a jelly roll
is this is often already done for you,
and you just simply have to separate them into two sets
and take a photo for reference.
If you are making a set with your own strips,
organise them darkest to lightest,
take a black and white photo,
and then make any adjustments you want.
You might be asking, "Why a black and white photo?"
It's all about a color's value,
which I go into in more detail in my Colour Series.
I'll put a link in the notes below.
Then pair the two lightest together,
then the next two together, then the next two together,
until you have 20 pairs.
Then I mark the fabrics 1 to 20.
I use stickers and clips.
You can use numbered pins
or mark the number on the pins,
but if you want you can even use
a piece of paper and pin that.
(bright music)
Take the set number 1 and the set number 20
and make a stack of four strips.
Trim the selvage from one side
and then cut at 2 1/2 inches.
Cut the remaining piece at 40 1/2 inches.
Take your marker number 1
and attach it to the smaller stack.
Take your marker number 20
and attach it to the larger stack.
Then take set number 2 and 19
and make a stack of four strips.
Trim the selvage from one side,
and then cut at 4 1/2 inches,
and then cut the other strip at 38 1/2 inches.
Put the number 2 marker on the small stack
and put the 19 on the larger stack.
Take set number 3 and set number 18
and make a stack of four.
Trim off the selvages and then cut at 6 1/2 inches,
and cut the remaining stack at 36 1/2 inches.
Put your marker number 3 on the small stack
and put the marker number 18 on the tall stack.
And we are going to repeat this for the remaining set
number 4 and 17, 5 and 16,
and so on,
and when you are done, you will have 20 stack sets.
Don't worry about writing down all these measurements.
They are going to be in the pattern.
(bright music)
Take your stack number 1 and lay them out.
You're going to have two light and two dark.
Then take your stack number 2.
We are going to sew strip set number 2
to the right of strip set number 1.
Keep dark with dark and light with light.
Then we are going to take stack number 3
and sew them to the left side,
and then stack number 4
and we're going to sew that to the right side.
Then number 5 on the left, and then number 6 on the right.
You get the idea.
We're going to do this until we get to 20,
and it really is this simple.
However, you need to sew straight and iron well
so that your block strips are perpendicular to each other.
So let's just pause for a second
and review a couple of good practises.
Use a ledge.
I showed how to make one in my video
"5 Sewing Hacks With Masking Tape".
And it's really crucial that the ledge is straight
and in the right place.
So make a couple of practise pieces out of your scraps
and adjust your ledge until it's in the right place.
Use a leader and sew right off the end here
so that you can chain piece.
There are more tips in my video "How To Sew Straight".
And when you iron, set your seams
and then finger press,
pushing the fabric away from the centre.
Remember, no swishing.
For a complete description of this method,
see my video "A Really Good Ironing Technique".
And for this block, I will alternate
using the seam roller on the even seams
and ironing on the odd,
just to save myself a trip to the ironing board.
Now as you sew, you might be tempted
to trim this tail off, but don't.
You'll quickly realise that you need that tail
when you sew on the next strip.
And just be aware
that this edge on the bottom of this block is on the bias.
And to avoid stretching it
while you're sewing your blocks together and quilting it,
it's best to stabilise it,
and I think the simplest way is just with a basting stitch.
Set your stitch length as large as it can go,
I put mine to a 6,
and make a long basting line just at the edge.
Oh, and remember to change that stitch length back.
Ask me how I know.
But you could also use tape or iron
on interfacing if you prefer.
And as you can see, I found it much easier
to work all 4 blocks at once,
but if you'd rather work on one at a time, that's okay too.
And for this version,
you end up with two versions of the blocks.
One pair goes dark to light
and the other pair goes light to dark.
(bright music)
Lay the dark block down
with the right angle corner on your right.
Lay your light block down on top
aligning the right side.
Pin as necessary and sew.
Then repeat with the other pair.
Iron and press to the dark side.
On a flat surface, lineup the long sides of the block
so that the seams in the middle nest.
Then keeping the block flat, pin the strips
from the middle out to the ends.
Sew this seam together.
And you're done, and at this point
the quilt top measures 56 inches by 56 inches.
(bright music)
You may elect to put borders on.
I do need my quilt to be just a little bit longer
'cause I have tall people in my family.
Because the strips are all 2 inch wide finish,
I decided that my border should be a multiple of that.
So I cut three 2 1/2 inch strips and made one long strip,
and from this I cut two 56 1/2 inch pieces
and I pinned and sewed them to the sides.
Then I cut three 6 1/2 inch strips
and I made one long strip from these.
And then I cut two 60 1/2 inch strips,
and sewed those to the top and the bottom.
(bright music)
Unfortunately, there were almost no scraps leftover
at the end of making this quilt.
I only had enough to make this stack of hexis.
Funny how shopping from your stash can surprise you.
I dug into my stash and found this flannel
and found it had the perfect colours to match my front.
I knew it was there.
I purchased it for Christmas gifts
that I have yet to find the time to make.
I made the back in three pieces.
It had a bit of a nap to it,
so I cut a 78 inch length,
and then I cut another 40 and cut that in half
and sewed that to the sides.
(bright music)
This pattern is perfect for quilting
on a domestic sewing machine.
Grab your walking foot and quilt straight lines
just following the strips,
or do wavy lines, even easier,
and work one section at a time.
Now you know I have a new long arm,
and though I really like this design,
it's not easy to do when I only have
this amount of working space.
So I am using this quilt to practise my pantograph skills.
(bright music)
Again, shopping for my stash is making me dig
into fabrics I wouldn't normally go to,
but it turns out I had a fabric that matched the colours
and the quilt top really well.
This is one of the first fabrics I ever purchased
and I decided to make a tight 1/4 inch binding,
so my strips are only 2 1/4 inches wide.
If you did not put a border on your quilt,
a 1 inch binding in one of the darker colours
would look fabulous on this quilt.
If you haven't watched my binding series yet,
which shows you how to make wide and narrow binding,
I'm going to leave a link in the notes below.
And I am pretty darn happy on how this turned out.
(bright music)
I might even make another one.
If you want to check out one of my other Stashbuster videos,
I'm going to leave a link here.
They burn through your stash,
they're fast, they're easy,
little or no wastage, and free to all my viewers.
I have this pattern for download
along with all my other Stashbuster patterns
on my website Just Get It Done Quilts,
and I'll put a link in the notes below.
Last week on Karen's Quilt Circle, I had Jennifer Mahnke,
and we were talking about Quilting for a Cause.
I'll put a link in the notes to that as well.
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So take care and I'll see you next time.