ZJ Humbach

Jelly Rolls: Session 4: Building Blocks

ZJ Humbach
Duration:   22  mins

Description

Jelly Rolls lend themselves to all kinds of blocks, from simple to complex. In this segment, ZJ shows you some simple ways to build blocks that are fast, easy, and look fantastic. Use these blocks alone or in combination to make stunning quilts in a jiffy!

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Think back to when you were a kid. I'm sure you had a set of building blocks and it was just so fun to take those blocks those rectangles and those squares and build castles and build towers and build all kinds of things. Well, that's basically what we can do with our jelly roll quilts. We take basic squares, basic rectangles, and we're going to make blocks out of them. And that's going to be the focus of this segment is using our building blocks. The jelly roll is two-and-a-half inches wide. So if you cut a square, it's going to be two-and-a-half by two-and-a-half cut. And when you sew it it will finish up at two inches by two inches. If you cut a rectangle at two-and-a-half by four-and-a-half cut, it will finish at two by four. The reason these measurements are so important is because two squares side by side will then fit a rectangle. And I think you can already start to see how the building block process will work. So let's go through and I'm going to show you how you can build with our jelly roll quilts. This is particularly important because if you're like me you probably started out quilting, or if you're a new quilter you're probably using a quilt pattern. And in time you may want to be able to design your own quilts. So this is kind of a primer, if you will, for how to go about designing your own blocks and making your own quilts that are uniquely you. So if we take our two-inch patch, two by two, and you put two of them together this is called surprisingly, a 2-patch. That is the proper name for this unit. And if you put two of them together, you reverse it like I showed you in the last segment with a strip piecing you get a 4-patch. And that is a four by four quilt block. So this is an important measurement to keep in mind. There's a lot of math involved with quilting, much more than a lot of people realize, especially when it comes to building your patterns, but I've tried to simplify it and we're going to keep it as easy as we can here. So we start with the two by two we go to a two by four, and that becomes a four by four. Now let's take that two by four inch rectangle that I showed you, the single rectangle. When you put it with another rectangle you now have a four by four. Now, your rectangles can certainly be other sizes. And as we go through some different blocks, you will see where we actually use different size rectangles, longer ones. But it's the a two by four that is going to pair up with your two by two-inch squares the most often. So that's why I really stress the two by four rectangle. So let's see how it starts playing together. The first one I want to show you is a framed 1-patch. This is a very simple block that you can make. It takes one, two by two square in the center. You're going to have a two by two square on either side. And then once you've sewed those three together you will add one more rectangle to the top and bottom. And that one will be a two-and-a-half by six-and-a-half cut rectangle that will actually finish at a two by six. Now, the interesting thing here if you've been following along you're probably saying, "Well why can't I strip piece that?" Well, why can't you? Absolutely, if you're making a bunch of these blocks and they're all the same in your quilt I would absolutely strip piece that. I would do that as three strips and then cut your centerpiece out. And then all you have to do is sew on your rectangles. If you're doing something scrappy you could certainly have these two piece and then all you would have to do is add one more square. So this is the beginning of making our blocks. The next one is a variation. It is still a framed square. And let me go back to this one for a minute. Maybe it would be good to compare them. This one finished at six inches, square. This one is an eight-inch block. And that's because we've added another element in here. This one uses a four by four patch and is surrounded by a frame. So again, each time you add, you're adding two more inches. So depending on how you're designing your quilt and what size blocks you want to use you have a six-inch option or you have the eight-inch option. All right, now this is doing it with a solid frame around it or a frame in a fabric of your choice. It could be a print but it's using the same fabric all the way around. Let's take a look at what happens and how this block quickly changes just by changing the fabric. Now we have a scrappy frame around our two by four. And once again, we can still go ahead and strip piece the center if we're making multiples or there's nothing to say that these four can't be different fabrics and you have an entirely scrappy block. Everything you do changes the look and we haven't done anything difficult but look at how different our blocks are starting to look. Let's take it a step further. Here we have that same 4-patch but instead of having the long rectangle on the top and bottom, we've put squares there. So now you're having a chain effect. And when you match that up with another block that chain is going to be running all the way through your quilt. And will give a very complex look from a very, very simple-to-make block. Again, you could do this as single colors all the way through. You can do those scrappy. You can just make your corners scrappy or you could do it with your solid color blocks and then make your individual patches around the frame scrappy. So I think you can see where now you're starting to have fun with those building blocks. Just like you did playing on the floor as a kid. Let's go one step further. This is actually a 12-inch block because again, two, four, six, eight, 10, 12 we've got more strips going through here. This is a double framed 4-patch and I drew it to scale of one inch equals two inch. So while it looks smaller than that last block that you saw, it actually is bigger but my paper wouldn't accommodate 12 inches. So in this one, we started with our 4-patch. Again, it can be strip pieced if you're making multiples and then we framed it, not once, but we framed it twice. So now you have some different options. You have your different size blocks. I think we had a six, we had an eight, and now we have a 12. So this really gives you some different looks. And if you wanted three frames now you're up to a 16-inch block. This is nice to know because sometimes especially if we're making a king size quilt we want to go with a bigger block. And it's very easy to change the size of your quilt by just changing your block size or maybe you just don't want to make a lot of blocks. Maybe you don't want teeny tiny blocks and you can just make several big ones for a very interesting look on your smaller quilts, on a lap quilt. If you have a large 16-inch block throughout you only need three across and three down to have a 48 by 48-inch quilt, that is very dynamic. So just some things for you to think about. Oh my goodness, let's kick it up one more notch as Emeril would say. And let's put a chain through that same block. Look at the difference here. Very simple. We just added a square in our corners and now look at how complex your block looks compared to just two simple frames. So this is what I'm saying, when we start playing, it's amazing what can happen. Now let's take that framed block one step further. And I want to show you a variation called courthouse steps. This is a very popular quilting block. It's a actually a derivative of a log cabin but it's also a variation of our double framed 4-patch and what has happened, in fact, let me get that double framed 4-patch back is if you look very carefully, if I turn this we actually have the same block going on. It's just different because of the fabrics. But what happens is if you turn it 90 degrees, you've gone from the framed patch because we started here with our sides and then our tops here, we did the same thing, except we ended or rather here, we started with our top and bottom and then sewed on the side strips top, bottom side strips. It changes the look. So when it's in this configuration it's actually called courthouse steps and you can see the difference that you get when you change it to different colors. You get that distinctive stepped look. If you had it this way, that's what it would look at. But it's nowhere near as, as striking as this one is. So there's something to consider. So that's what you can do with rectangles and squares. Now let's look at our rectangle. The true rectangle that we started with, our four by four, two of them paired together. If I take a four by four rectangle and I add one more strip, this is what I get. It's six inches by four inches. You can use squares like this in your quilt. Nothing says that a quilt block has to be a square. You can work with rectangles. You can also use this particular size for the piano border or you can use it for a strip across your quilt. It's very, very dramatic in row quilting but if you want to have the true square like we have here with our four by four what you're going to have to do is make sure that you cut your strip six inches long. All right. So when you cut your strip set make sure that you're cutting it to that width. And that would be true if you're going to now all of a sudden put on four strips and you would have eight inches. Now you have with four strips you have an eight-inch block with five strips. You'll have a 10-inch block and this can be a block all on its own. Going back to our two by two or side-by-side rectangles. I want to show you when you put them together this is what you come up with. It's called a rail block and all we've done is take the orientation has rotated so that it goes from the top to the inside, to the bottom, to the inside. And that's one pattern you can have. You can also change that around and simply by rotating which way the color is, instead of the pink next to the pink here, by putting the purple. Now you start seeing the twirled block in the center. So it gives it a very, very different look. A third look that you can create very simply is going scrappy and now it looks entirely different using our rail quilt. The more rails you add the more interest it actually has, but if you don't want the two-and-a-half inch wide block you can certainly cut it in half and get more strips in for the same size. So there's nothing to say you can't take your jelly roll strips and cut them in half lengthwise. And now you'll have smaller blocks. They'll be about three quarters of an inch. It's, you know, fairly small but it really makes for an interesting block when you have them sewn together as strips. Now, we're going to do some more building with our blocks and we're going to combine the 2-patch which is the two squares with a rectangle for a four by four block. All right. So it's time to play. I recommend just making up a mock-up of an eight-inch square, just draw it out and divide it in half so that now you can put in a four by four patch you can put in your 2-patch with a rectangle. You can put in two rectangles and you can start playing visually and see what you have. You don't necessarily have to color everything in. You can also just draw your mock-up and start looking at it and saying, "Hmm, that's an interesting design there with my rectangle in the center, surrounded by my 2-patches," or I can turn it and I can put my rectangles on the outside. And then I get this kind of interesting shape coming through the center, which when it goes up and I marry other blocks will be quite interesting but then I can start seeing problems. So what I recommend is make a mock-up and I would do this if you like jelly rolls, this is a good thing to do. And go ahead and make them on, you can laminate them. You can do them out of poster board, something so they're a little more sturdy than what these are, but I just did some simple blocks here so that you can see how we can start playing with them and say, "Hmm, what if?" That's an interesting option. 'Cause now I'll start getting strips. And if these are scrappy that could give an interesting look with this checkerboard going down in rows through my quilt. All right, what happens if on I turn these? I can have a block like that. I could turn it and have a block like that. I could turn it and have a block like, no, I don't like that one. I could do that. That's kinda interesting. Or I could say, which one was this? If I have this one going this way and I put that one that way, and I do this one this way and I do that one that way. Oh my goodness. I've just made a solid patch in the center. Or if I do it this way. Wow, now I'm not sure I like how my colors are. So I think you can see by having the mock-up, you can start realizing, "Hmm, I might have problems." So what happens if I have my 2-patches so that you can see they all started with the green on top. What happens if I make some where the blue is on top? Ooh. Now we can really start having some different options here because I can turn things, I can play. I can say, "Hmm, that's not right." That that should go there. And maybe we want this one here. So now I can look at it and say, "Okay how many do I need to make that are a 2-patch with blue on top or with the green on top?" And it really helps because otherwise you're going to make your strip set thinking, "Okay, maybe I need 30 of these blocks." And if you haven't thought it through when you start getting it up on your design wall you're going to say, "Oh my gosh, I really don't like that." And now I have to either un-sew my blocks and redo them or I've got to hope I have more fabric to cut more. So this is just a little old school inexpensive way to look at things that may save you a little bit of time and headache. Of course you can always use more modern versions. And we'll talk about those in just a minute. Okay, a couple more blocks. This actually uses the 2-patch with the rectangle. And it is the very traditional, very well-loved log cabin block. So it all starts with that basic building block. And now you are cutting different size rectangles to put around it. And this particular one finishes out at a 10 by 10. In this case, you've got your four by four block, your main unit there, and then you surround it with another four-and-a-half inch block. And then you've got a six-and-a-half inch block, six-and-a-half inch block. You've got the two eight-and-a-half inch blocks. And you finished with a 10-and-a-half inch block for a finished 10 by 10 block. So that's what I'm saying, your rectangles aren't always going to be four inches or two by four inches. But that is your key building block there. Now this may not look like a log cabin but if I put it side by side with this one I think you'll see where the log cabin is. Except I reversed it. This one is your more traditional log cabin. And this is where you can definitely combine the jelly roll on this side and use a plain fabric on the opposite side to stretch your fabrics and stretch your quilt. It also will give a little more interest and the white definitely is a great one to pop quilts with. This could be black. This could be solid blue. This could be your prints. It could be anything, but I think you start seeing how the blocks start coming to life as you add fabrics, and as you add your own personalization. This is the very traditional log cabin with the red center which symbolized the heart and the home. But you can also take it a step further again and put those little cornerstones in, your little two by two squares. And now we have 10-inch log cabin blocks that we've got the chain going through it. So I think you can see that these can be a lot of fun. A couple of construction tips as you measure and cut your patches especially when you're doing something like the log cabin. Let me go back to this one here where we have this long strip where each one is a strip. Please, please, please, it's very tempting to take that long strip just sew it on and then whack it off to the right size. Please do not get in that habit. You cannot control the stretch and your blocks will definitely become out of square. You will start noticing a lot of rippling in your quilt. It won't lay flat. You will not be happy with it. Cut the actual individual strips, pin them and make sure that it's going to fit, and then sew. You will be so much happier with your blocks if you do. I also would recommend that you just use these basic blocks as a starting point and get some paper out and play with them on paper. Use a computer drawing program if you're comfortable with computers I highly recommend Electric Quilter. You can point to the different blocks and that quick you can change the color in them and start seeing different color options. And I think you'll find once you get comfortable with these computer programs, they're very, very easy to learn, that it will open up a whole new world and a new level of quilting for you. And I think you'll just be amazed at how many beautiful blocks you can create from just the simple square and the rectangle. So have fun with your building blocks.
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