Hello everyone-
I am pretty new to this forum and need your expertise and advice. I have spent oodles and oodles at the only fabric store around......and loved every minute of it!
However, I have recently been searching ebay regarding fabrics and see very different prices on these things I know nothing about:
jelly rolls
bundt cakes
layer cakes
Please tell me-are these listings generally valuable? I know that one is of strips of fabric that are 2 inches wide (generally) but see such varying prices, I am not sure I am getting a good deal, or am just being caught up in the "mood" of ebay buying...
any advice you can give would be great. Also, are there standard questions you ask regarding buyingthis type of fabric? Can I assume they are all pre washed? Or that they are not?
Please help a novice but enthusiastic new quilter-
and thanks so much for your help!
Your friend,
Theressa
CowgirlQuilter ;-)

When buying anything precut ...I always give myself the yardage check, in otherwords if I bought the amount by the yard would it be reasonable? A little bit of math can keep you from a not so good purchasing decision.
I assume they are not prewashed. Check the sellers rating!

I think you need to assume that those ebay fabrics are not prewashed. part of the difference in price is the quality of the fabric. Buying off of ebay I feel you are always taking a risk. Saying that I spent $20.00 today on ebay buying fabric.

They are not prewashed. Charm packs are usually 40-42 5" squares, but can be less. They retail here at my LQS for $9.00, so one for $6 with $3 to ship isn't a bargain unless local availability is an issue. Jelly rolls are 42 2 1/2" WOF strips. I think they retail for over $30. About the same price as the fabric. The advantage is the mixed selection and no cutting. Honey Buns are an 1 1/2" strips. I think layer cakes are 10" squares.

You can control the quality by only buying from lines you trust like Moda.

Connectingtreads.com does not charge to cut fabric - their charms, etc are priced like their fabric, but some is only medium quality. Not a bad thing, but one to be aware of.

When buying on ebay, if it states Moda, can I be sure I'm getting Moda (for example). Is there such a thing as fake labels being sold on the internet? I ask because so many products around the world are counterfeit these days.

try buying precuts on sale .... the blurb will tell you how many pieces are in them. google for free patterns for each type of precut and see what can be done with them. or google first and then get something and give it a try making something out of them. experiment! some of the online shops have free projects or tutorials to show how to do something. there's lots of tute's here, too.
[i wouldn't buy off ebay, either]

I actually prefer buying the yardage instead of the precuts, so I can't really offer you any advice and have never bought anything off ebay, just something I don't do. LOL

You need to pay attention to the quantity of the bundle you are buying on ebay. Many are much smaller than the Moda bundles. Add the price and shipping together and divide by the number of pieces of fabric included and use that as a guide. You will pay more per yard, but if you want a little of the whole collection, it's less expensive than buying 1/4 yards of each color. There are places online that frequently have sales and you can do much better for prices than on ebay.

I sometimes sell charms here, and I do prewash mine, and always state that in the ad....so there might be others who do, but I would think they would tell you.

I haven't used a lot of precuts. Usually they are more than yardage of same. Handy, but pricey. Now if you catch a good sale, I'm go for that. I've never seen any precuts that were pre-washed.