How Many Jelly Rolls to Make a Quilt (Lap, Queen, King, Rug)
Fabrics come in different sizes. The reason for that is that these different sizes make sewing projects a little easier to do. Instead of buying a full yard of material you can buy packs of fat quarters or jelly rolls and use them at your leisure.
To make a queen size quilt measuring roughly 84 by 92 inches you need to multiply those dimensions and then divide by 3200. The answer is just over 2.4 jelly rolls but you should round up to 3 in order to add to your stash of fabric and have smaller fabric pieces when you need them.
To learn more about how many jelly rolls it takes to make different-sized quilts, just continue to read our article. It does the math for you so you can concentrate on making the best quilt possible.
Jelly Rolls 101
How Big is a Jelly Roll?
The standard size for a jelly roll is 40 inches long by 2 1/2 inches wide. Then 40 strips of fabric this size are put in one package and called a jelly roll. When figuring the square inches you may not see the actual total in one jelly roll.
The actual total is 4000 square inches but most people subtract the seam allowance, 800, from that total and only talk about 3200 square inches. That can be confusing to some beginners. So put your fears and confusion to rest, you get 4000 square inches in one jelly roll size.
How Many Strips in a Jelly Roll?
One of the better aspects of buying a jelly roll is that you get a lot of strips inside each package. The standard number of strips is 40 which is more than enough for some smaller-sized quilts.
When you are dealing with the king and queen-sized quilts then you are going to end up with more strips than you need. Some people say to round down when going to buy the number of jelly rolls you need but if you do that, you may not have enough strips to finish the quilt.
It is always best to round up and have leftovers. You never know when you will use those extra strips. having extra on hand will help you with other projects where you are just short and buying another yard of material will be too expensive.
How Much Fabric is in a Jelly Roll?
With 40 strips measuring 40 inches by 2 1/2 inches, you are getting a lot of material inside a jelly roll. As we have already stated you are getting a gross amount of 4000 square inches. When you subtract the 800 you need for the seam allowance you are left with 3200 square inches of usable quilt material.
How many jelly rolls you buy will be up to you but never buy so little that you run out of material before you finish the quilt. To run out and get more is not only costly but time-consuming as well.
It is not a big deal if you have half a jelly roll package leftover. If we know sewers, that material will not be wasted and be put to good use.
What Size Quilt Will One Jelly Roll Make?
Roughly, and with the 800 square inch seam allowance removed, you can make a quilt measuring 50 by 60 inches using one jelly roll. Or you can go with a 40 by 80-inch quilt as that will use the complete 4000 square inches up (includes the seam allowance).
Both options are quite easy to make and very good to have around the house or give as a gift. Then if you want to go smaller, you could make several small crib quilts, a lap quilt or two, and so on.
This is what buying a jelly roll does for you. It allows you to be flexible and make a small size quilt in different sizes. All it takes is a little work and creativity on your part. We are sure you can think up a lot of extra projects to use up that material as you work on your quilt.
How Big of a Quilt Will 2 Jelly Rolls Make?
The largest size seems to be a twin-sized quilt. You will need 70- 40 inch strips to complete the project and that will leave you with 10 strips leftover. That leftover can be added to your stash.
Some people say you can make a queen-size quilt with 2 jelly rolls but the actual amount is roughly 2.4 to 2.5 packages for one queen-size quilt. Rounding down never provides one with the right amount of material.
One figure we saw said that you needed 105-40 inch strips to get one queen size quilt if you are using jelly rolls as your fabric supply. That number of strips should produce an 86 by 93-inch quilt. The exact size will be up to you. Just make sure you know how big you want to go with your quilt and add in an extra package when needed.
Jelly Roll Quilt Size Chart
To help you avoid doing a little math while you work, we are providing a jelly roll quilt size chart. This allows you to see what you need at a glance and make sure you can concentrate on sewing and not figuring out these little details.
| Quilt size | # of jelly rolls | Size in inches (approx.) |
| Crib or baby quilt | 1/2 package or 20 strips | 32 1/2 by 50 |
| Lap | 1 package or 40 strips | 50 by 64 |
| Twin | 1 1/2 packages or 70 strips | 64 by 88 |
| Queen | 3 packages or 105 strips | 86 by 93 |
| King | 3 packages or 120 strips | 104 by 93 |
** all strips mentioned are the standard size of 40 inches
The queen size will actually take a few strips less than a full 3rd jelly roll package. we did not put the California king dimensions in the chart but add an extra package to the king-size and you should be covered.
Now that you have the basic measurements, you should be able to figure out how many extra packages you will need if you are making an odd size quilt.
How Many Jelly Rolls for a Queen Size Quilt
Some people figure it will take about 2.4 packages of jelly rolls to make one queen size quilt. As you can see the actual figure is 105- 40 inch strips which will leave you with about 15 strips for your stash or if you need to make any corrections.
That is the important factor in making quilts by using jelly rolls. You need to make sure you have extra strips on hand just in case a mistake was made. Accidents do happen and you should have at least 10% extra of any material needed for any given sewing project.
Never round down as some people suggest as that will leave you unprepared when these mistakes do take place. Rounding up may leave you with extra fabric but it is always better to have more than to have none at all when you are close to being done.
How Many Jelly Roll Strips to Make a Lap Quilt
This is the perfect size quilt if you are on a sewing or fabric budget. All you will need to make a 50 by 64-inch lap quilt is 1 jelly roll. Some people will say that one package will make the lap quilt 50 by 64.5 inches but that only happens if you reduce the seam allowance.
But make sure you have some strips in your stash as 1 package is not going to give you enough strips to be prepared for any mistakes that may take place. Buying an extra package will have you ending up with a lot of strips leftover and taking up a lot of room in your sewing area.
So you need to play it by ear when deciding how many packages you will buy.
How Many Jelly Rolls do I Need for a king-Size Quilt?
If you follow the size mentioned in our chart above, you will need 3 complete packages to make one king-size quilt. 120- 40 inch strips are required and this figure leaves you in the same boat as if you were making a lap quilt.
3 packages of 40 strips are just enough material and you would have to be perfect in order not to need any spare strips. So you may have to be extra careful as you sew or you may have to buy some extra packages to make sure your work errors are covered.
It is up to you how you handle this situation. If you are a prolific sewer then having extra material on hand will not be a problem. But if you are a part-time sewer, then that extra may be on hand for a long time before it is finally used up.
California king-sized quilts will need about 3 1/2 to 4 packages of jelly roll strips. You will still end up with some extra strips leftover.
How Man Jelly Rolls to Make a Baby Quilt
This project will help ease your mind as you will have more than enough leftover strips to cover for any mistakes that may take place. All you need are 20- 40 inch strips which is 1/2 a jelly roll.
Of course, this means that if your fabric supply outlet doesn't sell smaller packages of these strips you will have to buy 1 jelly roll package to get this project successfully completed.
If you are really good at sewing strips together, you could make 2 quilts and use one as a spare when the other gets dirty. There are lots of projects that will use up that extra fabric in no time.
Or save it for when you need to make repairs or need patches to cover holes. How you use that extra material will be up to your discretion.
Jelly Rolls to Make a Twin Size Quilt
The number will be 2. Even though you will not use all 80 strips in a twin-size quilt, it is always good to have extra material on hand. You never know, you may get inspired and create a small pillowcase out of the extra strips.
All you need for a twin-size quilt is 70- 40 inch strips and that covers the seam allowance as well. Once you are done, the quilt should measure 64 by 88 inches in size and be nice and comfortable.
There are different ways to use those strips as there are for other sized quilts on this list. Some people go with 2 sets of 35 strips or two sets of 20-inch strips. it is up to you how you use these materials.
How Many Jelly Rolls to Make a Rug
To be honest, the number of jelly roll packages you need to buy will depend on the size of the rug you want to make. For a rug measuring 3 by 4 feet or 36 by 48 inches, you will need 1 jelly roll to do the job.
It is all about size and if you want to go smaller than that measurement, you will still need 1 jelly roll package to do the job. You will just end up with a lot of strips leftover.
Some Final Words
A jelly roll provides you with a lot of material. That is good for those sewers who like to sew but don't always need a yard or more of fabric to complete their projects. Plus, jelly rolls are perfect for quilts when you get tired of using fat quarters.
Size matters when doing any sewing project and having extra fabric leftover is not wrong.
