What's a Jelly Roll?

We constantly add new products in the new section of the catalog of Casa Cenina Quilt & Patchwork and those of you who are fond of this art may have found a lot of times the noun "Jelly Roll". On this technique also a book has been written (here is the post about it), Jelly Roll Inspirations, but you can find some other books on this subject: Jelly Roll Quilts and Les Jelly rolls - Quilts & accessoires.
These two English words coupled together can have several meanings, but among them only two are of our interest. The "Jelly Roll" is actually a type of rolled cake, similar to the "gateau" (or gattò as Tuscans call it). And in the embroidery world, the "Jelly Roll" is a roll of fabric pieces, a real bundle of pieces to combine together in order to create a personal quilt. So it is a pack of selected and pre-cut fabrics you will embroider and sew as you like in order to give life to your patchwork!
Usually the Jelly Roll contains 40 pieces of fabric, each of about 10x15 cm and they are selected according to a unique theme: flowers, geometry, batik etc.
The"Jelly Roll" is typically American. Watch some classic movies like "Pollyanna" or "How to make An American Quilt" casting Winona Ryder: you will notice how the American patchwork is linked to the "fabric roll"