Jelly Roll 1600 Expanded

 I came across the Jelly Roll 1600 and decided it would be perfect for the backing of my Disappearing Nine Patch. If you're not familiar with the Jelly Roll 1600, it is a quilt race that uses 1 jelly roll to make a top that is 48x64. You mix up the fabric strips in the jelly roll and sew them together in one long 1600" strip,. Then you cut off the first 18 inches and  take the beginning and end of the strip and sew them right sides together. At the end of the seam you have to snip the strip where you folded it onto itself. Then you repeat the process for a total of 5 rounds  (you start with 1600", then to 800", 400", 200", 100" and finally 50"). The website at Heirloom Creations explains it much better than I do and includes a video of  "the race".

I didn't have a jelly roll, so I just cut up my own 2 1/2" strips.  I needed more than 1600" since it had to be 75" square. I cut 60 width of fabric strips and sewed them into a long 2400" strip (2400", 1200", 600", 300", 150", 75"). That gave me a quilt that was 75" wide  but still only 64" long. To make it longer I just sewed a few extra rows to the top .  I am toying with the idea of appliqueing a few big simple flower shapes on it. Maybe tomorrow. I would definitely use this pattern again. It comes together very quickly. Not including the time I spent cutting strips, it was sewn, ironed and trimmed in just over 3 hours. That includes a million breaks, ironing seams as I went and keeping in mind that I'm not a speedy sewer.

Joining the strips

Longest strip of fabric I've ever worked with!

 Happy Stitching!

 corina