Jelly Roll Fabric
Jelly Roll Fabric, or a Jelly Roll is a collection of fabric pre-cut into strips 2.5" by about 42" and rolled into a circle produced by Moda Fabrics. Other manufactures offer similar products such as Pops, Bali Pops, Rolie Polie and Strip Sets. Typically there are 40 strips of fabric and contain all the fabrics in one collection offered by the manufacturer or curated by the Quilt Shop. The number of strips can vary and there may be multiples of some of the cuts of fabric but that too can vary. A Jelly Roll is one type of Precut Fabrics.
Benefits of Jelly Roll Fabric
Jelly Roll Fabric are great for the quilter who wants a piece of each fabric in a fabric collection. Because the fabrics come from one collection, all the fabrics coordinate with one another, making it easy for a new quilter who is still learning about fabric selection. These bundles also make it easy to start sewing many of the simple quilt patterns that have been designed to use them.
Supplies and Tools for Jelly Roll Fabric
- Jelly Roll Fabric is widely available, from quilt shops to online vendors.
- Many manufacturers offer free patterns to use their Jelly Roll Fabric bundles. Additionally there are many books and patterns are available for using Jelly Rolls.
- Since the strips are pre-cut into the width of the fabric, often only shorter rulers and mats are necessary for cutting pieces from the strips, such as 12" long rotary cutting rulers.
What I Wished I Knew When I Started using Jelly Roll Fabric
JELLY ROLL FABRIC can have additional fabrics added to them to provide more color and contrast to the quilt design. It is not necessary to use only the strips in the Jelly Roll throughout the quilt project.
Usually, Jelly Roll Fabric strips are not recommended for pre-washing, as they can become very tangled in the wash. After the quilt is completely made and finished, it can be washed if desired. Products like Color Catchers or Synthropol can be used in the washing machine to cut down on fabrics "bleeding" or losing color which can migrate to other fabrics in the quilt.
