Jelly Roll Jam Strip Quilts Label and Binding

A few weeks ago, I posted the fun easy way to make Jelly Roll Quilts. To see that post, click here.

After the jelly roll strip quilt has been quilted (either by hand or by machine), trim the edges all nice and even. At this point it would generally be time for binding, but I decided I wanted to put a label on my grandbabies' quilts, so they would always know who made it for them and when it was made. Furthermore, I decided I wanted to have the quilts be from both Bob and I since he provided the money in our bank account for the materials, and I provided the labor -- a perfect working team! 

To make the label, I just cut a square out of an off-white fabric. Then, I folded it in half and wrote on it with a Pigma Micron Pen. Just a note about Pigma Pens. I LOVE them. Does that sound over-dramatic? It may sound that way, but I have used them for years and years, and they are always my go to pen. They don't bleed on fabric, they have a nice, precise point, and they are permanent. Perfect, I tell you!

After pinning the piece of fabric in place, as in the above label, it is then time to bind the quilt. There are many different philosophies to binding. To me, there is no better finished look than hand binding. It is a beautiful way to finish the quilt, and all of the stitches are hidden. When I make a quilt that is a keepsake quilt, I hand-bind. Having said that, there is also a time and a place for machine binding, in my book. And these baby quilts are the time and place. I want these to be quilts that they use, and therefore they must be able to be thrown in the washing machine. So, machine binding it is. It will hold together well through wash after wash after wash... and also through little kiddos dragging the blanket around wherever they go. 

I could show you photo after photo of the binding process, but then I would probably be pretty much copying the directions from someone else's website, since that is what I looked at for these particular quilts. So, instead, I will refer you to Cluck Cluck Sew, a terrific website devoted to quilting and sewing. Click here to see their machine binding tutorial.

After binding the quilt, this is what the finished product will look like.

As a side note, when I got them machine-quilted, there were hundreds of designs to choose from. My grandson loves foxes, so I had his quilt quilted in a forest animals pattern. You can see an owl, and an acorn in the photo below. There is also a fox somewhere in there.

And for my granddaughter, the quilt had big loopy flowers, which are adorable.

I love how the quilts turned out. They were fast, simple projects, and very do-able. Especially considering the five more I need to make for the five additional grandbabies coming our way.