Last day today… And it was time to be let loose on the overlockers (or sergers as they call them in the US). This time the task was to make a complete quilt top out of a Jelly Roll of Moda fabric, with enough left over to make two more smaller quilts (though only one quilt top was the aim of the day). Oh, and we were to make it ALL on an overlocker — no sewing machines were to be seen in the classroom.
For those unfamiliar with the term, a Jelly Roll is a set of around 40 two and half inch strips of pre-cut fabric. The fabric usually follows a theme — typically a colorway (e.g. all fall tones) or a set of coordinating fabrics from a manufacturer. We had a choice of two Jelly Rolls — either the muted, more ‘country’, more ‘adult’ fabrics from Moda (creams, teals, terracottas, greens, paisleys, florals etc.), or the brighter, ‘juvenile’, colorful fabrics also from Moda. I’m fond of brights, so that’s what I chose (though I have to say that after working with those fabrics all day and combining them like we did, I did find them a little nauseating to look at by the end of the day!).
Our teacher Suzie took us through some of the basics of the Babylock Evolution sergers (I have an old Bernina FunLock at home and it’s pretty much the same except I have to thread the thing by hand — which is mighty painful. These sergers had auto threaders… and a price to match!).
Then she let us loose on the fabrics! We followed one of Eleanor Burns’ patterns for a Jelly Roll quilt, but as we were using sergers instead of sewing machines, many of the stitching and cutting techniques didn’t apply.
And yes, we made an entire quilt top in 6 hours (well, probably 5 hours by the time we got started, had some breaks, etc.). It was quick and easy and using an serger would be a great idea for knocking out charity quilts quickly.
Here are some pictures; click on a small picture to show it full size.
See also:
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 
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[…] Day 3 of the Eleanor Burns Quilting Academy, I was in the class that made a quilt top from a jelly roll in 6 hours, using a serger […]