Precut Fabric: A Quilter’s Shortcut to a Beautiful Quilt
If choosing fabric for a quilt is one of the best parts of quilting, figuring out how much fabric to buy can sometimes be a little less exciting. How many yards of each print are needed? Which fabrics should coordinate? And how many times will that fabric have to be cut before the quilt is finally ready to piece?
That’s where precut fabric comes in!
Precuts are fabrics that have already been cut into convenient sizes, making it easier to get started on a project. They are also a great way to enjoy an entire fabric collection without having to buy yardage of every single print.
What Is a Layer Cake?
A Layer Cake is a bundle of 10-inch squares. Typically, a Layer Cake contains 42 squares featuring a variety of prints from the same fabric collection.These larger squares are perfect for projects that call for larger pieces, and they can also be cut into smaller pieces for blocks, half-square triangles, and other quilt designs.
What Is a Jelly Roll?
A Jelly Roll is a bundle of 2½-inch-wide strips of fabric, usually cut from selvage to selvage. Like Layer Cakes and Charm Packs, Jelly Rolls typically include a variety of prints from the same fabric collection. The long, narrow strips are especially handy for strip piecing, making borders, creating log cabin blocks, and other quilt designs that call for narrow strips. They can save a lot of cutting time while giving you a beautiful assortment of coordinating fabrics to work with.
What Is a Charm Pack?
A Charm Pack contains 5-inch squares of fabric, usually featuring a variety of prints from one fabric collection. A standard Charm Pack typically contains 42 squares.Because they are smaller than Layer Cakes, Charm Packs are perfect for smaller quilt blocks and projects. They are also a great way to add lots of different prints to a project without buying a large amount of each fabric.
What Is a Fat Quarter Bundle?
A Fat Quarter is a piece of fabric that measures approximately 18 inches by 22 inches. A Fat Quarter Bundle contains multiple fat quarters from the same fabric collection, giving you a selection of coordinating prints and colors to work with.Fat quarters are especially useful when a pattern calls for larger pieces of fabric or when you want plenty of each print for cutting different shapes.
Why Buy Precuts?
There are plenty of reasons quilters love precuts.
They save time. The fabric is already cut, so there is less time spent measuring and cutting before the fun part begins.
They make fabric selection easier. The prints have already been coordinated as part of the collection, so you know they will work beautifully together.
They give you variety. Instead of buying yardage of just a few fabrics, a precut bundle lets you enjoy many different prints from the collection.
They are great for beginners. Precuts take some of the guesswork out of fabric selection and cutting, making them a wonderful way to get started.
They are perfect for stash building. A Layer Cake or Charm Pack can be tucked away until the perfect project comes along, and you already have a collection of coordinating fabrics ready to go.
And perhaps the best reason of all? Precuts make it very hard to choose just one fabric collection!
Whether you reach for a Layer Cake, Charm Pack, Fat Quarter Bundle, or Jelly Roll, precuts are a fun and convenient way to enjoy beautiful fabric collections. The cutting is already done, the fabrics are ready to coordinate, and all that’s left to do is start sewing!