I was browsing some internet fabric sites, and came across some terms I'm not familiar with. Perhaps someone can explain. What are charm packs, and what are jelly rolls? How do these compare to fatquarters? What would be some uses for these groupings?
Thanks. Julie

I sell charm packs on my ebay site. They are usually pre-cut squares, mine are 4 and 5 inch squares. I usually do 25 precut squares in each package. That means there are 25 different prints in each package. There are patterns for what they call charm quilts with 1 print of the fabric in the whole quilt. Boy, I hope that made sense!!!

I do charm swaps with friends. They are basically a cut piece of fabric and in a charm pack they would all be the same size.... like we swap 5" squares. You can google charm quilts and get lots of info on making them. Also there are books for using these charms.. my favorite are Nickel Quilts and More Nickel Quilts.

I am not as certain about jelly rolls... I believe they are packages of fabric that are rolled up and I think each piece is 2 1/2 " wide but I forget the length.

The fabric store or catalog should tell you the amount of fabric included in the pack or roll and that would help you compare it to a fat quarter, which is 1/4 of a yard, just cut in a different way than a true 1/4th yard.

So are you now more confused?? Barb C

I will only add this bit of info to Barb's comments, because she is telling you correctly, jelly rolls are made up of the strips cut WOF (width of fabric) of each fabric in an entire fabric line produced for a manufacturer. For example, a couple of years ago Moda released a line called "Seaside Rose" (I believe that's the correct name). It was a very popular line, but as with most all fabrics, once they're gone, they're gone for good. At least until I was at the quilt shop a few weeks back and saw the jelly roll for the first time; it was the same fabric, cut into strips, and rolled together tied with a Moda ribbon. (I guess they had a little more left over; who knows?) If you strip piece, I can see where these rolls would be a major time saving purchase, but only you will know if they justify the price.

Okay, I think I got it. The jelly rolls sound like they might be a "fun buy" for me, but not necessary, but the charm packs have patterns that would give them a purpose, as if all the fabric I buy needs a purpose. But now if I see some I like, I could buy them and say I have a plan.
Thanks. :D