King's Valley Jelly Roll Quilt

Jacquie
Jul 27
4 min read

Updated: Sep 8

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I wasn't planning on making another jelly roll quilt anytime soon but as soon as I stumbled across this free quilt pattern it was a done deal for me. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a scrappy looking quilt and pre-cuts!

Links to Project Supplies

Fabrics and Sizing

The pattern calls for two jelly rolls to make a 58 x 64 inch quilt. I couldn't find the jelly rolls used in the original design so I looked online to find a jelly roll with a similar color scheme.

What I landed on was the Collections for a Cause: Unity line by Howard Marcus for Moda Fabrics. I fell in love with the patterns and the colors ended up being a perfect substitution. For the backing fabric I went with matching yardage from the unity collection and decided on the Paisley print in Ivory. I purchased 4.5 yards, which should be plenty for both the backing and binding.

Supplies I Used

Overall, this pattern is fairly straightforward. A rotary cutter, ruler, and cutting mat are really all you need for the prep work. When it comes to the actual sewing, I love to use a 1/4" presser foot. Especially as a newbie quilter, it gives me so much peace of mind in ensuring my seams are even and consistent!

Putting It Together

So far, the most challenging part of this quilt has been getting all of the rectangles laid out and (attempting to) keeping it organized while sewing the columns together. I yearn for a future where I might have a dedicated sewing room with plenty of space for quilting, but for now it's my living room floor.

Sewing the Quilt Top

With my quilt top laid out, it was time to piece everything together. I started by sewing the rectangles into columns. This step was pretty straightforward, the only real challenge was keeping things organized so the pattern stayed intact. I pressed all my seams open to reduce bulk, and once the columns were finished, I joined them together. Labeling each column made sure everything came together in the right order.

At this point, the quilt top was technically finished according to the original pattern, but I decided to add a border. I chose the Chocolate-colored Textural Dot print from the fabric line because I knew I wanted a dark brown that would really make the design pop. I cut the yardage into 2 1/2 inch strips to keep consistency with the jelly roll strips and joined the strips together on the bias (much like I would if it were binding) to get the right length for the sides. I’m so glad I added it as it pulled everything together beautifully!

Quilting It All Together

For the backing fabric, I chose coordinating yardage from the Unity collection—the Paisley

print in Ivory. For batting, I went with the medium-weight Quilter's Best Blend, and for basting everything together, I used 505 Adhesive Spray (my favorite for keeping things in place).

I quilted it all on my grandmother’s machine, a Singer Touch & Sew 603e. This machine uses fashion discs for specialty stitches, and I went with disc number 2, which gives a simple wavy stitch. Paired with my walking foot, it was perfect for this quilt. Using the presser foot as my guide, I stitched along both edges of each column seam, then again down the center of each column. To finish, I quilted around the border twice with the same wavy stitch and walking foot.

Last Step: Binding

I had originally planned to use the Paisley yardage from the backing as my binding fabric, but since I had so many leftover jelly roll strips, I decided to go with a scrappy binding instead (one of my favorites!). I cut the leftover strips into random lengths, arranged them in no particular order, and sewed them together into one long strip. I absolutely love how the scrappy binding turned out, especially against the solid border I added.

This time, I also tried something new before attaching the binding. Instead of squaring up the quilt with my rotary cutter and ruler, I ran the edges through my serger. It was so quick and gave me nice, clean edges to work with, making the binding process even easier. Definitely a technique I’ll be using again!

The Finished Quilt

After washing and drying, the quilt came out perfectly crinkled and cozy, the way I love quilts to be. The texture from the wavy quilting really stands out now, giving it that soft, lived-in feel right away. My final quilt size after washing is 63" x 58", just the right size for curling up with.