Jelly roll - making it square
 

Oh i hope someone can help me, i have never made a jelly roll quilt before, but i brought some Batik jelly roll fabric from spotlight, my local store. Yesterday i sewed it using 1/4 inch seam allowance, and followed the instructions , but now i want to make it straight, the side seams that is, but for some reason it wont go straight, what have i done wrong,

Idle Di

Did you sew the strips end to end or long side to long side? If you sewed them long side to long side and sewed them all starting on the left side, then it is going to swing to the right. When I have to sew multiple strips together along the longer sides, I always sew one seam from left to right, then the next right to left, continuing to alternate. Sometimes you will still get some movement, but it is much more controllable.

This is a good pattern for the jelly roll race quilt. https://weefolkart.com/jelly-roll-ra...ections-notes/

If you have sewed them all down the long side, you would have to undo some seams, but you could make this quilt using a half square triangle setting. http://cluckclucksew.com/2016/10/dia...-tutorial.html

Idle, I do not understand what you mean from your description. Maybe a little more in the way of explaining what you did will help us help you. Thx

Barb, you have it correct, I did sew all of them on the long side, I know what you mean. I will unpick some of them and resew the other way. I also made a jelly roll race one, and it is wonderful, it has come out great. will post pictures soon.

Idle Di

I understand now. The strips were sewn width of fabric. I have found that if I finger press each strip before sewing the next one on that I do not have this problem anymore. Also I am very careful not to stretch either strip and allow them to feed carefully under the feed dogs this works better to keep the strips from being off. Happy sewing.

starch can be your friend too.

Starch has become my best friend when I'm quilting.

It's easier to control if you sew in pairs, then foursies, etc., finger pressing, then ironing easy group as you go......Jordan fabrics has a cool looking jelly roll quilt that Donna sewed long sides together...might want to check that out on YouTube.......

I never use starch. I have found pressing each strip after it is sewn to previous helps a lot. Pressing with the iron slanted helps too. I press bottom of iron on right side and tip to the left ( diagonally). Then I reverse pressing left to right.

Well I sat down last night and unpicked every single piece, I have arthritis in my hands, so you can imagine the pain I was in but... I am going to have another go, with your help and information. Many thanks

Idle Di