Piece a vibrant jelly roll on the PFAFF admire air 5000 Serger

I was asked, “Can I make a quilt on my serger, and why would I?” Well, that’s easy, it’s faster for sure, and the seams don’t fray. So, I decided to play around with a couple of PFAFF sergers and explore the things I can do and the things I choose not to do. The first serger I chose was the PFAFF admire air 5000. I’m piecing a jelly roll quilt with a twist, based on a picture I saw on Pinterest.

This air threading (loopers) serger is a 4/3/2 thread overlocker with 15 stitches. A cloth guide (seam guide) is also available for it.

A white and blue serger with a brightly colored jelly roll strip and navy square

I started a jelly roll quilt using the PFAFF admire air 5000 serger.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I should start by saying that I saw a picture of a unique jelly roll quilt on Pinterest, with no pattern, just an idea. I pulled out my PFAFF admire air 5000 and set it up with gray serger thread, in a four-thread overlock wide. Gray is my go-to color of thread for a multi-color quilt. This serger also has a Cloth Guide (think seam guide) that comes in the optional Utility Feet kit, and set it for ¼”.

Now you think that would be it… However, some quilts require a scant ¼” seam, some just an accurate ¼” seam, and others just the same seam allowance (whatever that may be). And now you ask, how do I figure that out? How do I adjust it?

Two white fabric rectangles marked with the fine marker and ruler, both shown, as a test piece for serging a ¼” seam.

Two fabric rectangles marked with a ¼” seam line using a fine marker and ruler, ready for testing my set seam allowance.

Just like with a sewing machine, you test it. After choosing the Wide 4-thread overlock, I set the stitch length to approximately 3.5 and the blade width to around 6 (traditionally, it’s set at 6.5 for this stitch). I took some scrap white cotton and cut some rectangles and marked the ¼” seam line and then serged the seam. If the left needle was on the line, it’s a perfect ¼” closer to the raw edge it’s a scant ¼”, further into the main body of the fabric it’s a larger seam. The question is how I adjust it to be the seam I want.

Three pieces of fabric with various examples of the ¼” seam allowance test

Three fabric seam allowance tests, one was a scant ¼”, one was perfect, and one was too big a seam allowance. You can tell the difference by looking where the left needle stitches are compared to the marked ¼” seam.

Since I leave my blade up, I can adjust the seam with the blade width(position). This is something new to us as quilters and sewers; we never used to do this, as we never had the ability to do it! If I were using a serger without a cloth guide, which I am tomorrow, I would use the blade as a guide and do what I call a “whisker cut,” run the fabric along the blade and just trim the threads that come off it and not touch the fabric itself. This takes practice to stay straight and not cut into the fabric, especially as the serger can go so fast, slow down, or adjust your serger speed control, until you get the hang of it. You may also need to adjust the looper (tension), but I leave that to you to decide.

I now have my seam allowance where I want it. For this quilt, I chose a ¼” seam (not scant). And now on to stitching.

A vibrant rainbow colored jelly roll and mottled navy fabric, with some already cut into 2½" x 2½" squares

The vibrant jelly roll I chose, along with the navy mottled fabric I selected for the squares, borders, and binding.

The picture I saw had vibrantly colored strips separated by dark squares. And then sewn together with the squares off set in the main body. I found a vibrantly colored jelly roll, and a mottled navy for the squares. From the picture I saw the jelly roll strips had selvedges removed and they were cut roughly in half. I laid them out in the order they came (color pattern) off the roll and cut many 2½” x 2½” squares of the navy. And then just started serging square to strip, square to strip, until all of them were sewn together. I gathered it all up, threw it off my balcony, and started rolling it up in a neat(ish) roll, so at least I had something instead of a pile of fabric.

A roll of strips of (½ selvedge to selvedge) from my rainbow bright jelly roll, with navy mottled squares in between. So, strip to square, strip to square

My roll of strips and squares is serged together and then sort of neatly rolled up to have control over the “fabric”.

Now came the hard part, which I later figured out, thanks to the benefit of hindsight. You need to pick a length at the start of the strip to cut and sew on the side. I had multiple starts/seams! Why(?), because you don’t want the squares to line up. So, a square is 2”, a strip is 20ish, do some math. I ended up around 53” long strip after several false starts.

4 rows of the vibrant jelly roll strips and navy mottled squares, trying to plan which side and which way is “up” so that the navy squares do not touch

Four rows accomplished: wondering where and how to add the 5th?

Once you have a width determined, it’s just a matter of stitching a seam, flipping it open, and trimming with scissors. You can press the seams open as you go along, if you prefer, or wait until the end. Remember, you can add a strip to the other side, start at the other end, or do whatever you want, so that the squares are spread out. At this point, it’s a matter of continuing until you’ve finished all the fabric or reached the desired size.

I will caution you to take care when stitching or pressing to avoid a curve (think rainbow shape) that I got. Originally, I was making a baby size with the stripes going vertically. When I thought I was finished, I pressed and found a portion had a crazy curve (think rainbow). I had to trim (without saving it), and now I have the strips going horizontally, so I had to stitch on more to create a rectangle. Too many strips going one way, stitched too fast???

With the navy border, to ground the colors, it’s now a throw-sized quilt. Sometimes crazy things happen when you don’t plan carefully enough and just jump in! At any rate, it’s down and I like the finish.

A quilt top pinned to a work board featuring strip piecing with a jelly roll.

The final Jelly Roll Serger Quilt features a navy mottled border in a throw size.

This 52” x 60” quilt top is too big for me to quilt in a short time, so I will send it out to the long armer.

Today’s jelly roll quilt was pieced on the PFAFF admire air 5000. Join me tomorrow; I’m piecing an “I Spy” charm pack quilt on the PFAFF admire air 7000.