Hi There! I’m Nicole Gilbert and you’ve joined The Stop Scrolling and Start Sewing Podcast.  Are you new to sewing and want to start quilting but have ne idea where to begin?  Each Wednesday join me as I share the ins and outs of that quilt life.  If you don’t have a sewing machine, have no idea how much fabric you need, or you’re just trying to figure out where the heck to stick that bobbin this is the podcast for you.

On today’s episode we’re talking precuts.  I’ll go over the most common precuts you’ll find on the market, what they mean, and how to use them.

If you’re more of a read and highlight kind of a gal, head over here to read the transcript.

But first a little history:

Precuts serve 2 purposes.  One for the Fabric Companies and one for the consumer, that’s you.  From the Fabric manufacturers point of view, precuts provide an excellent means of showcasing an entire fabric collection.  Many smaller fabric shops will get some layer cakes and jelly rolls before they order whole bolts of new fabrics to see how the collection does.  And very rarely does a fabric shop order a bolt of every fabric in a given collection, so a precut is a great way to get your hands on every print available.

From a consumer point of view, precuts will make your life a lot easier as many of the precuts are commonly used sizes in quilt patterns.  So it saves you a lot of time in the cutting stage of your quilt making.  They are also wonderful to design a quilt around, as all the fabric is beautifully color coordinated.  This can be especially helpful for those of you who are still mastering color theory and color choices.

Now, for the types of Precuts:

Fat Quarter Bundles-

18×22 the most common precut on the market.  Whila a traditional quarter yard of fabric is cut across the WOF it measures 9×44 (depending on the WOF you’re working with). A fat quarter gives you a more square shape to work with the same amount of yardage and so you can do more with it in terms of cutting options.  Almost every single fabric manufacturer makes Fat Quarters that you can purchase either individually in or in a fabric bundle and they are called Fat Quarters.  Except for Northcott Fabrics.  They call their’s Stone Rolls.

Fat Eighth

half a fat quarter.  So 9×22.  The bundles vary in sizes depending on the number of fabrics in the fabric collection but usually land between 20-40

Charm Pack

5×5. Most come with 42 pieces and depending on the number of fabrics in a given fabric collection you can get 2 or 3 of the same fabric.  There massive popularity stems from the fact that 5″ squares are super popular in quilting patterns.  Very common across all fabric manufacturers though Northcott calls them Stone Chips, 5” stackers by Riley Blake, Hoffman Fabrics refers to their batik bundles as Bali Snaps and I’ve even heard them refered to as 5 karat crystals..

Mini Charm packs

2.5×2.5. These are great for patchwork piecing especially because you don’t usually have to do any cutting to utilize them in a variety of quilt patterns.  They usually contain about 42 pieces just like regular size charm packs and are usually less than 5 bucks.  So a great way to get corrdinating pops of color into a quilt.  Moda refers to them as Moda Candy.

Layer Cakes

10×10. These are excellent for large scale prints where you want to show off the fabric.  These are great for cutting out applique pieces from or to cut down into smaller sizes.  Robert Kaufman refers to them as 10 squares(42 pieces) and Hoffman’s calls them Bali Crackers (40 pieces)

Jelly Roll

2.5×44- 40 strips.  While not every company makes Jelly Rolls, the big players do.  FreeSpirit Fabric calls them Design Rolls, Robert Kaufman calls them Roll-Ups (they also make half rolls of 20 strips), Hoffman makes Bali Pops and Northcott calls them Stone strips.

Honey Buns

1.5×42. They are great for strip quilting, sashing, and grain tape.

Hexagons

These are one of the more rare types of precuts.  Robert Kaufman was the first to introduce them.  Robert Kaufman calls them Hexies and they measure 2″ from point to point.  Moda makes Honeycombs measuring 6″ from point to point.  Hexagon precuts are not as regulated when it comes to size so it’s a little hard to compare apples to apples.                                                                                                   

Jolly Bar

5×10 Fat Quarter shop exclusive. They are basically a layer cake cut in half.  They are made from Moda solids and come with an exclusive matching Fat Quarter Shop pattern.  You can find Jolly Bar kits exclusively at the Fat Quarter Shop

Turnovers

triangles, exclusive to Moda.  6” half square triangle, Usually about 80 pieces per pack.

Sweet Strips

10 x 60 flannel strips by Shannon fabrics