I have pointed out once or twice to the people doing the cutting that it is not the correct measurement and boy do they get mad. But I am the one paying for the yardage and that one or two inches sure makes a difference!!! The surplus store we have here in Maine always goes over 3 or 4 inches if not more - love shopping there!

I never depend on FQ's being the correct size...especially after you wash them!

They are 18" it is the 22" that is the problem so that blame goes on the manufacturer making the fabric less wide. I should have measured them before I washed them so I would know how much they shrunk cause they did shrink. Dealing with the shrink can take us into a whole different conversation about pre-washing :P

I am only using five to seven different fabrics so I am gonna have to get more of the exact fabrics that ran short. If I was using a huge FQ bundle I could probably just get one or two of the fabrics. Oh well I think I found them all last night. I am just sooooooo mad cause I really wanted to piece the quilt this weekend at retreat :(

No more FQ quilts for me! And now I am really worrying about a FQ kit I bought and a kit I just bought this weekend in Denver.

Can you adjust the measurement so you can still use the pattern but make it a little smaller?

I love fat quarters! That said, I too have encountered a problem with buying a fat quarter and not getting all the fabric I should. One year on a Shop Hop I bought all these amazing fat quarters from a store, something like 20 of them. I got them home and they were mainly 17x19. :shock: Now I refuse to buy fat quarters from them and I made sure to let ALL my friends know what happened. Let's just say that store wasn't happy because I even complained to the people who ran the Shop Hop. The store blamed the manufacturer & basically I was given an apology followed by them saying it wasn't their fault. Hm. Sure. Never is. :roll: If in doubt, I find it is easier just to open them up and measure them right there at the store. I don't always do it, because some stores never give me any problems and I trust them, but there are stores I make sure to do this at.

I have never purchased a kit so I don't know much about them. I would say it might be best to pull the fat quarters out and measure them. If they aren't correct, you can contact the manufacturer on the label and they should be able to make it right for you.

I'm with Tiffany in that I, too, LOVE FQs. When I see a sale on FQs, I know I'm in trouble ...... just can't resist. The only time I ran into trouble was when I prewashed and some of the FQs shrunk too much . Yes, it was very frustrating and I'm feeling your pain. At the time I was a brand new quilter and thought I had to prewash everything. Guess what? Lesson learmned for me, since now I never pre wash. With the availablility of Dye Grabber and Synthropol, who needs to worry about fabrics bleeding? And, for me, the crispness of unwashed fabric seems to result in more accurate cutting. Just some food for thought.

Nita, if your fabric shrinks that much when you wash it, don't you worry about how much it will shrink and pull at the seams once it is in a complete quilt and being washed for the first time? I know I have some friends who do this, but they are purposely trying to get that "antique" look. I always prewash so I was wondering how much trouble you had with this.

I'm mainly a scrap quilter so if the fabric isn't big enough, it usually isn't too much of a problem, except for shorting me on money. I simply add in several other fabrics of the same value and hue. Either that or it forces me to change what I'm doing, which is sometimes a happy surprise. This usually works, though not always.

Here is a trick I learned AFTER I had ripped out yards and yards of sewing. I made this gorgeous delectable mountains boarder around a double sized quilt. I ran out of fabric with only 4 inches to spare. Let me tell you, I searched for that fabric everywhere! It was about 15 years old at the time and there was no chance of my finding a little extra. What did I do? I ripped out the entire border, bought all new fabric and remade the entire border from scratch. Now that I am older and wiser I could just kick myself. What a waste of time, money, and effort!!!! :cry: If any of you ever find yourself in this situation, please don't do what I did. Here's a tip that will save you a ton of effort. Take the fabric you are short on, scan it into the computer, and print it out on a fabric sheet. There are some great fabric sheets that are being sold for printers now and this is a handy tool when you run out of fabric and only need a little bit more. I wouldn't do this if I needed substantial yardage, but it certainly would have worked well for the 4-inch strip I needed. :roll: Hopefully this tip will help someone else.

Tiffany ~ Thanks for sharing those tips :wink:

No, I don't worry about shrinkage after the quilt is completed ...... have not had a problem so far, but I'm one of those who you referred to who likes that "antique" type of look. In fact, I love scrappy quilts and I personally think the "antique look" enhances the beauty of a scrap quilt. So works for me not to prewash.

Either way ... Happy Quilting!

Fabric widths vary - so I don't get too up-tight when the width is less than 22 inches.

When it's cut shorter than 18 inches though, GRRR

I think very unkind thoughts about the seller.

Tiff, thats a great tip for a "shortage" emergency! Thanks so much for sharing.

BTW...its great to see you back on the board. :lol: