Hey everyone. Today we're turning a junior jelly roll into a sturdy oval rug you sew flat on your machine.
Here we go.
Meet the fabric
This is the Black Bella Solids Junior Jelly Roll Precuts, from United Notions.
It is a Moda precut.
The group name is Bella Solids.
And the stock number is 9900JJR 99, if you like to keep notes.
Inside the roll you get 20 assorted pieces.
Each strip measures 2.5 inches by 44 inches.
That is your classic jelly roll strip size.
The color here is black.
The tags call it dark, and that is honest.
There is no print to match up.
There is no direction to worry about.
You just unroll your strips and sew.
These strips were made in Korea, per the product details.
And because the fabric is a solid, your zigzag stitching becomes part of the design.
The project: a coil-and-zigzag jelly roll rug
We are making an oval rug, built one coil at a time.
You sew the strips into one long rope of fabric.
Then you coil that rope flat and zigzag the rounds together.
A finished rug from 20 strips lands around 24 inches by 36 inches.
Give or take a little, depending on how snug you coil.
That size sits nicely beside a bed.
It works in front of a sink, too.
Here is why this fabric suits a rug so well.
A rug gets walked on every single day.
A black solid hides the daily dust and footprints.
It also goes with just about every room in the house.
And with all 20 strips in one color family, your coil stays even.
No strip jumps out and steals the show.
Completely up to you how big you go, though.
You can stop early for a smaller mat.
Materials
- 1 Black Bella Solids Junior Jelly Roll Precuts — 20 pieces, 2.5 inches by 44 inches
- Batting strips, 2.5 inches wide — about 20 strips, or cut your own from leftover batting
- Thread to match, or a contrast you enjoy seeing
- A jeans or denim needle, size 90/14 — this project gets thick
- Your usual quilting ruler, rotary cutter, and mat
- Pins or clips, and a stiletto or chopstick for guiding the coil
- A machine that can sew a wide zigzag
Brief steps
First, sew your 20 strips end to end.
Use a quarter-inch seam, or join them on the diagonal.
Press those seams open as you go.
Next, lay a batting strip inside each fabric strip.
Fold the edges in, then fold the strip in half lengthwise.
Your finished tube should be about 1 inch wide.
Sew along the open edge to close the tube.
Work in sections if a full-length tube feels like wrestling an octopus.
It did for me the first time.
Now start your coil.
Fold back about 5 inches of tube and zigzag across it.
That folded piece is the center of your oval.
Set your zigzag wide, around 5 to 7 millimeters.
Keep the stitch length near 3 millimeters.
Wrap the tube around, one round at a time.
Zigzag where the new round touches the last one.
Keep the rug flat on the machine bed as you sew.
When you reach the end, taper the tube.
Trim it on an angle, fold it under, and zigzag it down snug.
Just like that, you have a rug.
Practical tips
Give yourself permission to go slow on the curves.
It does not have to be perfect.
A slightly wavy edge just proves a person made it.
You are your own worst critic here.
Take your time, too.
It is not a race.
One honest warning, right at the moment of risk.
This stack gets thick under the needle.
Slow down on the turns or the needle snaps.
That 90/14 denim needle earns its keep here.
Keep the rug supported on the table, too.
If it hangs off the edge, it pulls and your coil puckers.
My first rug curled up like a potato chip.
The fix was simple.
I eased up, kept it flat, and pressed it under a heavy book overnight.
We're not reinventing the wheel here.
We're making something useful from a roll of strips.
If I can do this, y'all can do it.
Thanks so much for sewing along with me today.
We'll see you next time. Bye.
Shop the Black Bella Solids Junior Jelly Roll Precuts at Linda's Electric Quilters.
