I mentioned last week the gorgeous design roll I received in my Quilty Box gift. This is the Clementine line by Heather Bailey for Free Spirit and is a pretty mix of aqua, pink, orange, lemon and lime. A design roll has 30 strips of fabric that are 2.5″ wide – similar to a Moda jelly roll which has 40 similar strips.
The lovely thing about these rolls of fabric is that they are pre-cut so you have less cutting to do which makes your whole project quicker to make, and they are all fabrics from one fabric “story” so they match perfectly and can be combined without worrying about matching. If you like that slightly scrappy look, this is an easy way to achieve it. You can also usually buy all the fabrics as yardage from quilting shops, so if you want to pick out one as a larger feature fabric, you can.
I immediately decided I needed to make it into a quilt with lots of white so that the fabric would really be showcased. Luckily I had the perfect white spots on white background in my stash so I could start immediately.
I chose a design called Sunset Ridge from the Moda Bake Shop site. If you haven’t ever checked out the Moda Bake Shop then you’re missing out! They have a huge range of free tutorials and patterns using Moda pre-cuts – jelly rolls, charm squares, layer cakes and more. It is my first stop when I’m looking for something quick to make from pre-cut fabrics. (Pinterest is my next stop, of course – here’s my Pinterest Quilting Tutorials and Patterns Board.)
The design called for cutting the roll strips into lengths of 6.5″ then adding squares to them before joining them into rows. The zig zag look of the rows turned something simple into something a little special I thought.
Between the rows of coloured strips, there are a couple of rows of background fabric. I made mine wider than the tutorial so that I ended up with a longer quilt. The original design was really for a baby quilt but mine was large enough for an older child or as a single bed topper.
The great thing about this quilt was that the width is very similar to the standard width of quilting fabric, so there was no joining of the background panels.
Finally I backed my quilt with a Sarah Fielke print from Spotlight and quilted it in super simple straight lines. After doing a Craftsy class on straight line quilting, I’ve been looking forward to trying it out on a quilt and this was the perfect choice.
By this stage I had decided to donate the quilt to Toowoomba Physie and Dance for their Interclub raffle so I was on a deadline.
The binding was made from leftover sections of the design roll and I really like the slightly scrappy look of it. I stitching the binding the night before the Interclub – when I probably should have been sleeping! – but the result was lovely.
The “finished” photos were actually snapped at the venue on the morning of the Interclub with the help of my Physie girl before we handed it over to the raffle table.
I hope the winners of this quilt love it! I so enjoyed making it and getting back into quilting again.
To learn more about Physie, a fabulous dance sport, check out Physie 101.
To learn more about the Toowoomba club, go to Toowoomba Physie and Dance.
To learn more about Quilty Box check out my other post here – includes a discount code for readers too.
To buy Heather Bailey fabric, try your favourite quilting shop.
To buy Sarah Fielke fabric and books, go to her online Shop.
To check out the straight line quilting class, go to Craftsy. (affiliate link)
Just signed for Quilty box and excitedly waiting my first box.
Your idea is great it does showcase the jelly roll.
That’s great, Rose – I hope you love them as much I have done