A Rug You Weave and Build from Jelly Roll Strips
Most jelly roll projects end in a quilt top. The Woven Jelly Roll Rug Pattern, from Pauline's Quilters World, takes those familiar 2 1/2-inch strips in a different direction: a beautiful, unique woven rug. Instead of piecing a top and quilting it, you prepare folded fabric strips and weave and build them into a sturdy, flat rug with a woven centre and a framed outside edge.
What This Pattern Is
This is a pattern, not a finished rug — it gives you the instructions for making the rug yourself. Its design relies on two companion tools from the same range. The inside section of the rug is made using the Weaver Sasher Set, while the outside strips are made using the Jelly Roll Sasher. Once complete, the rug measures 49 inches (125cm) by 28.5 inches (72cm). That makes it an ideal size to place as a welcome mat at your front door, in your kitchen, or as a lovely interest piece in a bedroom or study.
Why Quilters and Sewists Make One
A woven rug is a satisfying way to use fabric you already own. If you have a range of fabrics in your stash to use, a scrappy style looks fantastic — mixed colours and prints suit the woven construction, because the weaving breaks each fabric into small, repeating glimpses. It is also a change of pace from quilt-making: the finished piece goes on the floor or by a door rather than on a bed, so one project can brighten a hallway, kitchen, or entryway in a way a folded quilt never gets to.
What You Will Need
The pattern lists its own requirements, so gather these before you start: a ruler, a bodkin, fork pins, a cutting board, the Jelly Roll Sasher, and the Weaver Sasher Set. Having everything on the table first matters here, because the two Sasher tools do different jobs in different sections of the rug — you do not want to be hunting for the second tool halfway through building the first section.
How to Use the Pattern: Step by Step
- Choose your fabrics. Decide on a coordinated set of strips or go scrappy with a range of stash fabrics, which the pattern specifically recommends for a fantastic look.
- Prepare for the inside section. Following the pattern, get the strips for the centre of the rug ready to work with the Weaver Sasher Set, which is the tool used for this inside section.
- Make the woven centre. Work the inside section with the Weaver Set as the pattern directs, keeping your strips even as the woven area grows — this centre sets the character of the whole rug.
- Prepare the outside strips. Make the strips for the outside of the rug using the Jelly Roll Sasher, as the pattern directs, so they frame the woven centre.
- Build the rug out to size. Combine the sections following the pattern, checking as you go that the rug is heading for its finished size of 49 by 28.5 inches and lying flat.
- Finish and place it. Once the rug is complete, settle it in its spot — by the front door as a welcome mat, in the kitchen, or as an interest piece in a bedroom or study.
Practical Tips
Plan your fabric placement before you weave: lay scrappy fabrics out first so no two similar prints land side by side everywhere, unless that repetition is the look you want. Use your fork pins and bodkin as the pattern calls for them — woven and folded-strip work rewards keeping layers and strip ends controlled rather than held by hand. Check the rug lies flat as each section is added; catching a ripple early is far easier than correcting one once the outside strips are on. And measure as you build, since the finished 49-by-28.5-inch size is your guide to whether the sections are coming together as intended.
Care and Storage
Store the pattern with the Jelly Roll Sasher and Weaver Sasher Set it depends on, so the instructions and both tools are together next time you make one — a second rug in new colours is an easy repeat project. Keep the finished rug lying flat in use, and shake it out or spot-clean it as you would any fabric floor mat in a doorway or kitchen, where it will pick up everyday dust.
Project Ideas
Make a scrappy version entirely from stash fabrics for your front door, a colour-coordinated one to match a kitchen, or a softer palette for a bedroom or study. Because the finished size suits a doorway or a spot beside a bed or desk, this is also a thoughtful handmade gift — a real, usable piece for someone's home, made from fabrics chosen with them in mind.
Shop the Woven Jelly Roll Rug Pattern at Linda's Electric Quilters.
