How many hours do you spend cutting fabric for quilts? How much time do you spend picking out and buying fabrics that go together? If the answer is “a lot”, then consider pre-cut fabric! So what are pre-cuts? If you are relatively new to the world of quilting, then you are in for a treat. Fabric manufacturers put together pre-cut fabrics in different sizes showcasing all of the fabrics from a collection. In doing this, they have simplified the entire fabric purchasing process, and made it easier for all of us to do what we really love, which is sewing.

I love that pre-cuts are made from coordinating fabrics usually from one collection. Those fabulous fabric designers provide us with beautifully coordinating prints that usually provide different patterns and colors around a theme.

Benefits of Pre-Cut Fabric

• You save a ton of time by not cutting fabric – leaving you more time to sew.
• Pre-cut fabrics require little space to store. Jelly Rolls, Charm Packs, Jolly Bars,and Layer Cakes fit neatly into a small tote or drawer.
• There is very little fabric wasted when using pre-cuts. Many patterns are now designed to use most of a pre-cut set, leaving you very few scraps to store.
• When you buy a pre-cut fabric bundle you’re able to sample from the entire collection.
• The fabrics all match. Everything is color coordinated and blends beautifully with the entire collection.

Jargon

Whoever decided on the names for pre-cut fabrics must have been hungry! Many of the bundle names are specific to Moda fabrics with names such as Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, Charm Packs, and Jolly Bars. These terms have now become commonplace in the quilting world, but other manufacturers do have different names for the different sizes.

Here’s the current list of standard pre-cuts, their names, sizes, and usual number of pieces per pack.

 

Size	Name	Pieces/Pack
18” x 21” – 22”	Fat Quarter	Varies
9” x 21” – 22”	Fat Eighths	Varies
Squares
10” x 10”	Layer Cake Bali Crackers Patty Cakes Stackers Stack Pack Sundae Ten Squares	40 – 42
5” x 5”	Charms Bali Snaps Single Scoops	40 – 42
2½” x 2½”	Mini Charms Candy	42
Strips
6” x WOF (Width of Fabric)	Design Strips	20
5” x WOF	Charm Rolls Dessert Rolls Fat Rolls	20 – 30
2½” x WOF	Jelly Rolls Bali Pops Pinwheels Design Rolls Double Scoops Pixie Strips Rollie Pollies Roll Ups Stone Strips Strip Pack	20 – 42
1½” x WOF	Honey Buns Skinny Strips	40 – 41
5” x 10”	Jolly Bars	42
Other Shapes
6” or 10”  HST (Half Square Triangles)	Turnovers	80
2” point to point hexagons	Hexis	Varies
6” point to point hexagons	Honeycombs	40 – 41

Fat Quarters

• The most common of all pre-cuts.
• Each fat quarter can be cut down into lots of different piecing shapes: 10″x 10″ squares, 5″x5″ squares, 2.5″ strips, and 2.5″ squares. These shapes can then be turned into simple shapes such as half square triangles to give variety to a quilt.
• Make a variety of projects with a fat quarter bundle.
• Many fat quarter bundles have at least one piece of fabric from the entire collection.

 

Fat Eighths

• A fat eighth bundle is very similar to a fat quarter bundle only half as wide.
• Ideal for cutting smaller shapes such as 5″ squares and 2.5″ squares.
• Not as versatile as the Fat Quarter Bundles, but still allows for cutting a ton of different quilt shapes such as half square triangles and smaller strips.
• Great size for making small items like zipper bags.
• Many fat eighth bundles have at least one piece of fabric from the entire collection.

Jelly Rolls

• Ideal for borders, binding, and sashing.
• Make tons of simple projects from one jelly roll: Table Runners, Baby Quilts, Placemats, Bags, and Rug Mugs.
• Ideal for new quilters because it doesn’t require additional cutting supplies.
• Economical because there is very little waste.
• This Craftsy class has some great ideas, and we love Jelly Roll Races!

Layer Cakes

• Ready, set quilt with these squares. Put together a large quilt quickly by just arranging the squares and then sewing them together.
• Ideal size for small pillows.
• A good size for making bags.
• Perfect for appliqués.
• Can be cut into smaller 5″ and 2.5″ squares.

Charm Packs

• Use these 5″ squares to make a 9-patch quilt.
• Perfect for beginner projects.
• Open and begin sewing right away.
• They are ideal for simple projects like a baby quilts, sachets, and bags.
• Great for small appliqués.
• Perfect for making hexagons for EPP (English Paper Piecing).

Mini Charm Packs

• Great for small projects.
• Inexpensive way to incorporate an entire fabric collection.
• Easily to store and don’t take up much space.

The six  sizes above are the most common pre-cut fabrics available. Almost every fabric collection will now come with one or all of these pre-cut fabric sets.

As listed in the table, however, pre-cut fabrics can also be found as Turnovers (half square triangles), Honeycombs (Hexagons) , Jolly Bars, Design Rolls, Charm Rolls and Honey Buns.

   

Patterns Galore

There are literally hundreds of books and patterns available for using pre-cut fabrics. Check out the notions walls your local Rocky Mountain Sewing and Vacuum store  for some great books on using pre-cuts. If we don’t have one you’re looking for, see if we can order it for you. We also carry a limited number of pre-cut fabrics, and once again, might be able to order what you’re looking for. Just ask!

Pre-cut fabric is truly the best thing since sliced bread. Check out this table to see how many of each type you’d need to make a quilt. Skip the hours of cutting and get right to the good part. Pre-cuts help quilts come together like magic! Get some today!

Here’s a coupon to get you started!