Something totally different for me. I happened to see videos of people making them on Facebook and decided to try it for myself. I wanted something to go under my recliner so that’s why I chose to make a circular one.

Materials

I used Craftido’s Timeless Blue jelly roll. One jelly roll made a circular quilt about 3 feet wide.

For the batting I used HexaHive 2 1/2” jelly roll batting. I used an entire roll and then some of a second roll.

The thread was Gutermann Mara 100, one of the big spools from Wawak. I can’t believe how much thread jelly roll rugs require! I changed my bobbin at least twice on my Juki when I was sewing the strips and batting together and 4-5 times on my Janome when sewing the rug.

Construction

I found this YouTube video very helpful for getting started. She gets to the point and moves along unlike so many others that just talk talk talk.

I constructed the strips on my Juki TL-2010Q with the help of the Clover fabric tube maker. I found the big piece of the fabric tube maker really helpful but struggled getting the edges even with the smaller one. I would consider not using the smaller section next time.

I sewed the strips together on my Janome 6500P using a 6mm width and 1.5mm length and 100/16 jeans needle. Many people use a walking foot but I found it wasn’t necessary. My machine had no issues feeding the fabric despite going at top speed sometimes.

By far the hardest part was getting the middle started. I had to try a few times and what worked was just standing there with my iron working it in a circle at the ironing board. It still looks a bit rough to my eye but I guess it’s a good first attempt. You can see how my stitching improved more as the project went on and I got the feel for what to do.

At a certain point I realized I really needed an extension table in order to continuing making the rug. I technically have an extension table for this machine but some of the legs broke on it years ago, and I have no idea what happened to the remaining ones after we bought our house a few years ago. I ended up propping up the table with a bunch of books and magazines on the larger end, and cut a couple of pieces from a sturdy cardboard tube for the section that wraps around the machine. It is not a long term solution for sure but it got me through this project.

There is a bit of curling around the outermost edges. I admit I was rushing the final few laps because I was almost done and my toddler needed to be fed lunch. I should have done this at my dining room table because the table I was working at in my sewing room isn’t super wide and in the final stages of the project it started hitting the wall. I also should have stopped and pressed more like I did in the beginning, and been a bit more aggressive about easing in the strip being sewn in to the rest of the rug like I was earlier on.

Conclusion

When I started on this project last night I was like what have I done?? It seemed like the sewing would never end, and my wrist is a bit sore from manipulating the fabric round and round into the circle. I also struggled a LOT getting the circle started. But on the other hand as time went on I almost felt like the constant sewing was rather soothing. I also like the practicality of being able to make whatever size, shape, and color rug I want in the future.