a fat quarter is cut by taking a bolt of fabric, cut off a 1/2 yard piece, open that 1/2 yard and cut at the fold. not every bolt of fabric is 40-42" wide...some is only 36" wide which would give you a fat quarter that measured 18" x 18". so it depends on the width of the original fabric, but one measurement should always measure 18"...the second measurement can vary. and i have seen a couple shops that sold pre-washed fat quarters, so those did not measure up either because they had been cut then washed, so some shrinkage happened.
Originally Posted by mosquitosewgirl
I'm really, really frustrated...I bought some fat quarters from a chain fabric retailer that ended up only being 16.5 to 17 by 20 to 21. Just enough short so that I can't get all the blocks that I normally do out of a fat quarter. Even worse, I got the last of these particular FQs. Argh.