We’ve all seen jelly roll quilts. The precut 2 ½” strips are super easy to use and come in so many great colors. A jelly roll race is always fun, but these longarm machine renters have brought us some quilts that are a little different. These ladies prove there can be more to stripes than just strips.

Carol Changes Her Stripes

This quilt from Carol is a perfect example. It is literally just stripes of fabric sewn together, but the artistry is the way they were cut and lined up. Obviously, Carol got her hands on a whole bunch of ombre fabric. Probably from the same line, the fabric flows back and forth between two colors. She cut her strips and then flipped them so every other row goes from light to dark next to a stripe going from dark to light. I can only imagine how long that took her to figure out.

I also like how some of the stripes, the black to white it looks like, are much thinner and have been set between colors. It is truly mesmerizing. It is one of those quilts that the fabric is the star. This wouldn’t have the same impact without the ombre fabric. Carol quilted it with an edge to edge design called Seamless. The fabric is the star of this show, not the quilting. Seamless was a great choice!

Different Stripes from Kim

Kim was learning how to use the machines with this quilt. Simple, but effective, it is essentially a jelly roll race but with dark squares placed between the different fabrics. It adds a little randomness to it that I like. She also quilted this with the Seamless paper pantograph. This easy going loopy meander is a great pattern to add to most tops.

Rita Shows us Her Stripes

This is also a quilt from a rental certification student. Rita brought this stripey quilt with some on point nine patches. I really like the dark blue stripes between the tan colored pieced sections. It gives a nice strong structure. It is making me think about all my favorite sashing ideas, and what they might look like as a quilt by themselves. She chose to quilt this with a paper pantograph design. Cascade is a billowy cloud like feather design that adds a lot of movement to a quilt top. I think it was a great choice for a quilt top with so many long straight lines.

Pat's Stripes of a Different Color

This last quilt is from Pat. I asked her what design this was, and unfortunately she couldn’t remember. I do know that it was made entirely of Grunge fabrics. It is so simple, just stripes with points in staggered in lengths. But it definitely has a modern edge to it. To counter that hard edge and cool colors, she wanted to add a little whimsy and softness to it. She quilted this with a design board that we have here for our renters called Sweet Hearts. It has little hearts interlaced with flowers. It is a delicate and small design adding a nice texture to the top.

Long straight lines are easy to sew and can make for great design. But there is more you can do with strips than just sewing them together. Look around in social media and in nature and find some interesting and different ideas. Then connect with us on Facebook or Instagram. We’d love to see what you come up with!