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A Quilter's Alphabet

A Quilter’s Alphabet: J and K as in Jelly Roll, and Knife Edge Finish

January 27, 2021January 27, 2021 Post a comment

Hi Friends!

Today in the A Quilter’s Alphabet series, Tammy and I are up to the letters J and K! I will share about jelly rolls and the knife edge finish.

 

Jelly Roll

The Jelly Roll; a favorite precut of many! What is it? It is a collection of fabric strips, 2 ½” x WOF, wound up into a roll.

Top US quilting blog and shop, Seams Like a Dream Quilt Designs, explains the terms jelly roll and knife edge finish!

The term Jelly Roll was created by Moda and has become the standard term for quilters to use as the name for any collections of 2 ½” strips. But technically, the name is only used by Moda!

Top US quilting blog and shop, Seams Like a Dream Quilt Designs, explains the terms jelly roll and knife edge finish!

Most jelly rolls, or collections of strips, have 40 strips; usually from one fabric collection. Sometimes there are repeats of fabrics.

Top US quilting blog and shop, Seams Like a Dream Quilt Designs, explains the terms jelly roll and knife edge finish!

Other companies call their strip collections by other names- roll ups, strip sets…. 

Knife Edge Finish

To finish a quilt, most quilters add binding. What is a knife edge finish on a quilt? 

In this type of finish you don’t add binding; you don’t add anything. Instead, you turn under the edges of both the backing fabric and the quilt top fabric and stitch it closed. 

It is a nice edging to use on a small quilt as it doesn’t add the bulk of binding, but it is not as sturdy as a double fold binding so don’t use it for baby quilts or bed quilts!

A facing, a type of finish that is often used on art quilts, is different than a knife edge finish. In this finish, you add fabric that is stitched to the front and folded to the back. 

Be sure to head over to Tammy’s blog to see her J and K terms!

Next week in the Exploring the Basics series, Tammy and I will be chatting about the pinwheel block!

happy quilting!

Kate

jelly roll quiltquilt tutorial
About Kate

About Kate

Hi! I'm Kate Colleran, a designer who creates quilt patterns, fabric and surface designs. I lecture and teach about quilting. Welcome to my online home!

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Dreaming In Color

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