Potato Chip quilts are a great scrap buster and can be very Jelly Roll friendly when rectangles are 2.5” on a side!
Created with rectangles that have a 2:1 finished size ratio, here are examples of rectangle sizes with seam allowance included: 1.5”x2.5”, 2.0”x3.5”, 2.5”x4.5”, 3.5”x6.5”, 4.5”x8.5”
For the layout pictured, the following rectangles need to be cut out: 12 light rectangles and 6 dark. The alternating block will have 12 dark and 6 light. Here is what is sewn together for each block:
First, 2 rectangles are sewn together on the long side, a square can be used instead
Sew a rectangle to the top and bottom of the middle square
Continue building out from the middle with the following sets
4 sets of 2 rectangles sewn on the short side
2 sets of 3 rectangles sewn on the short side
To make a twin-size quilt, using 2.5”x4.5” rectangles, this block will be 12.5” when complete. If 35 blocks are made (5×7 layout) the quilt will be 60”x84”. Using Jelly Rolls, it would require 36 strips of light-colored fabrics and 36 strip of dark colored fabrics (a total of 630 rectangles). This top can be made with 2 Jelly Rolls!
The beauty of a Potato Chip quilt is that there are no seams to match until the blocks are assembled into rows!
To make it go faster, use larger rectangles. A square quilt top can be made with one big potato chip block. Just keep adding more rows and columns until the size wanted is reached.
Here is a booklet put together by a quilt guild in Canada showing many options:
Check out YouTube videos by “Inspired Quilting by Lea Louise” for more ideas!
Bet you can’t make just one!