Carolyn Vagts - Jelly Roll Baskets & Bags

Carolyn S. Vagts is a wife, mother, grandmother, quilt designer, author and a former book and magazine editor. She also owned and operated a successful quilt shop. Now semiretired, she works freelance.

Carolyn has made a name for herself in the quilting community with her award-winning techniques of mixing traditional piecing with fusible art appliqu. She especially likes to teach beginner quilt classes, wanting every student to have a good first experience with quilting.

These catchall baskets are perfect to keep close at hand while youre sewing. Keep your extra precut strips in the large basket until you need them! The small basket is the perfect size to fill with an assortment of napkins for yourself or for a gift.

Skill Level

Confident Beginner

Finished Sizes

Large Basket: 9" 9" 4"

Small Basket: 8" 8" 3", excluding handles

Project Notes

Read all instructions before beginning this project.

Stitch right sides together using a " seam allowance unless otherwise specified.

Materials and cutting lists assume 40" of usable fabric width.

WOF width of fabric

Large Basket

Materials

16 (2" WOF) A strips assorted prints

16 yards precut 2"-wide batting strips

Thread

Basic sewing tools and supplies

Bali Pops 2" precut strips from Hoffman California-International Fabrics and Katahdin On-A-Roll precut 2" batting strips from Bosal used to make sample.

Cutting

From precut batting strips cut:

14 (2" 42") B batting strips

Heres a Tip

When cutting strips from batting roll, cut batting strips to match length of precut A strips.

Completing the Large Basket

Referring to , fold in half lengthwise so all raw edges are inside the strip and pin into place. Stitch close to the folded edges to complete one strip. Repeat to make a total of 14 prepared A strips.

Figure 1

Select two prepared A strips, align the long stitched sides of the strips butted next to each other and, using a wide zigzag stitch, join them to make a two-strip unit as shown in . Repeat to make a total of seven two-strip units.

Figure 2

In the same manner as step 2, join the two-strip units together to make a 14-strip unit as shown in .

Figure 3

Referring to , cut one 9" square from the strip unit from step 3, and then cut four 4" 9" rectangle segments as shown.

Figure 4

Using the same wide zigzag stitch, join all four rectangle segments from step 4 together, short end to short end as shown in . Stitch into a tube by joining the two short ends.

Figure 5

Working around the step 5 tube, count out 14 strips and mark each seam with a clip or pin as shown in . This will make it more stable.

Figure 6

Figure 7

Referring to Quilting Basics and , fold the two remaining print strips in half lengthwise and pin one each to the top and bottom on the outside of the basket and stitch into place. Turn bottom binding to the bottom and slip-stitch into place. Turn the top binding to the inside of the basket and slip-stitch into place to complete large basket.

Figure 8

Large Catchall Basket
Placement Diagram 9" 9" 4"

Small Basket

Materials

12 (2" WOF) A strips assorted prints

yard coordinating fabric

16 yards precut 2"-wide batting strips

Thread

Basic sewing tools and supplies

Bali Pops 2" precut strips from Hoffman California-International Fabrics and Katahdin On-A-Roll precut 2" batting strips from Bosal used to make sample.

Cutting

From coordinating fabric cut:

2 (2" WOF) binding strips

2 (2" WOF) D strips

8 (2") B squares

From precut batting strips cut:

14 (2" 42") C batting strips

Heres a Tip

For either of these fabric baskets, one craft-size batting can be substituted for the precut batting strip roll. One 36" 46" piece of batting will make one basket.

Completing the Napkin Basket

Referring to steps 13 of Completing the Large Basket, prepare 12 A strips with 12 C batting strips. Join pairs of strips to make six two-strip units; join units to make a strip set.

Referring to , cut one 8" square and four 8" 3" rectangles from the step 1 strip set.