Not a typing error.
I could have done circles, but I doubt the effect would have been satisfactory!
Pattern booklet
This is a jelly roll rug. I bought the pattern years ago with the best intentions, but once I’d read the first three pages of it, I was much too lazy a bit intimidated and put it and the jelly roll aside. For years…
Finished size of mine is 48 x 27 inches but may vary. It was easy to make, but the preparation is pretty tedious and took twice as long as the actual assembly. None of it is hard, though. I do think the pattern instructions about the assembly are unnecessarily complicated, as they involve shifting furniture about. You do need an L-shaped return of some sort on your sewing table to hold the growing size of the mat as you stitch, but that’s about it.
You need a jelly roll. You join it end to end with neat diagonal seams until it’s all one strip. You cut batting strips a fraction narrower (the pattern says the same size, but I found that resulted in making it hard to fold the strips), and I cut them at 2¼ inches wide. You can join these strips too, with batting tape, but I didn’t bother.
Finished rug
You lay the batting on the wrong side of the jelly roll strip. You fold both edges towards the middle and fold the whole thing in half lengthwise. Pin together. Repeat this for the whole endless length. You taper one end down to half an inch, over a distance of about 6 inches. Stitch the strip down along its length, about ¼ inch from the open edge. You end up with a sort of flat, chubby ‘yarn’. Roll it into a ball, secure with a pin. Start the rug with a straight length (1 used 16 inches) and spiral out, securing with zigzag stitch. You need to ‘feed’ the free yard actively towards the stitching or it’ll get tighter and tighter and end up as a bowl, edges curving upwards. End up with the tapered end tucked neatly under. It’ll need steaming and pressing and possible a night spent under your heaviest books. Total time: 2 days.
This rug is going into the caravan, between the bunks, and will be cosy under foot instead of the vinyl planks.
talltalesfromchiconia 