Ok, I have a beginner question here. I've generally sewn clothing, but not really quilts. So, I'm accustomed to buying yardage. Are fat quarters a lot more expensive than fabric by the yard, generally? How should the prices compare?

Generally FQ are more expensive than yardage. There are 4 Fat Quarters in a yard of fabric. So if you buy 4 FQ at $2.50 each then you have paid essentially $10 for a yard of fabric.

They are a little bit more expensive to buy as fat quarters. But if you want to get a lot of different fabrics that are useable, fat quarters are a way to go.
I rarely buy fat quarters unless they are really inexpensive. I prefer yardage myself. I get a min of 1/2 yard if I don't think I will use it for much else. Mostly I buy a yard, if I really like it and it's a good price I get 3 yards and if it's a really really good price I get more!!!!

Personally I think fat quarters are more expensive than yardage,but as a beginner it might be easier to use if the pattern asks for fat quarters. I like getting yardage because sometimes a fat quarter is not "true"(18x22).
Plus if you buy yardage then you have enough in case of a mistake!

I am fairly a beginner too, and I always multiply the price of FQ by 4 to see how the price compares to yardage..generally, unless there is a FQ sale, yardage will be cheaper.

That being said, I do like and buy some FQs, I don't have a large stash and FQs are an easy way to add a little variety, especially if you like making small quilts, applique or scrappy quilts. I hate to cut into yardage for a 5" square, so I turn to my FQs.

I used to buy only 3 yards at a time, but now I have so much that I am now buying fat 1/4's.......unless I really, really like it and then I buy by the yard. Since most of my projects I do is applique, fat 1/4's work out great for me.

FQ's can be slightly more than yardage, but not usually by much (maybe 50 cents to a dollar), if I only want a small amount of a fabric (which I do more often than not since most of my quilts are scrappy), I will actually just buy half a yard of fabric. That basically gives me two fat quarters, but without them being cut apart so it makes it easier to do a larger strip or block of fabric.

Good luck!
Rachel

As others have said, yes, FQ's tend to be more expensive than yardage. Depends on what type of quilting you plan to do. Myself, I'm not into the scrappy look and don't really maintain a stash. I buy for projects only but I do over buy usually by a yard or better. This gives me room to straighten the grain of the fabric as well as have room for boo boos as we all make those! And anything left over from those projects is what I have for a stash for an odd block here and there for a swap or to try a new technique.

At some shops around here, they are higher and at some they are the same. Strangely enough, one shop used to have them for less. They were $2 each for FQ and $9 a yard for the yardage. But not anymore. I usually buy 1/2 yard cuts if I'm just stash building but I still frequent the FQ baskets too.

They are usually more expensive.
Depending on the type of patterns you like, some like the variation you can get by using FQ's :D:D:D

Some people like using FQ because they make scrappy type of quilts and or smaller projects.

Some people never use FQ because they enjoy quilts with a lesser number of fabrics. I have talked to several ladies that bought many FQ when they started quilting but they are not using them because they do not like scrappy quilts.

I have mainly bought FQ because I like very scrappy quilts but now I am running into the problems that I need yardage fabric for borders and backing so that is what I have focussed on lately.

Maybe buy yardage for projects you are making until you know if you like to use FQ.

Also some people switched from buying FQ to buying jelly rolls and charm packs as they cost less then FQ and are more user friendly without cutting them down. That way too they can get a little bit of each fabric in a line of fabrics.

FQ generally are more expensive but if you shop around there are definitely deals to be had when buying FQ.

FQ's are about the same or a little more than yardage, but I seem to be buying a lot more of them lately because I love the scrappy patterns in Civil War and 30's repro fabrics.

The quilt top I most recently finished has something like 3477 pieces and around 170 different fabrics. If I'd bought yards of all those fabrics, I wouldn't have had enough different prints to make it look really scrappy. FQ's were an easy way to get a lot of variety into my quilts.

I keep thinking that someday I'll do an orderly quilt with just a few different fabrics, but I keep gravitating toward these scrappy looks. :)

I buy both. But I will only buy fq's on sale

I only buy FQ's when no yardage of the print is available. And yes they do cost more than yardage.

my lqs has a ft quarter bin for 2 dollars and there yardage is from 8-12 dollars so it cheaper to get ft quarters out off the bin if you can find what you whant but other shops chare $4 and up per ft quarter.

I was lucky to have a LQS in Houston that did FQ sales twice a year and it made the FQs less than yardage, so I tended to get a lot then.

But I agree that if you like quilts with lots of different fabrics, it's a good way to go!

you can watch this board's classified section for good deals on fabric

I buy both, but usually yardage (and try to get that on sale). I purchase FQ mostly when I just need an additional little something for a specific project.

I like FQ's but it is true yardage is cheaper if you are building a stash. FQ's are great for applique` projects where you might only need a little of one color or pattern.

Thanks for the perspective on this. I've been noticing the fat quarters more in stores lately. Maybe that's why: they're more profitable to sell.

Where I shop they cut their own FQs from ends of bolts. They sell them all for $.99 each. It is great because if you just need a small amount to finish your project, you can sometimes find it on the FQs wall.

Fat Quarters aren't more expensive at Connecting Threads. No extra cost on cuts...(they should be paying me, I should have shares in their company lol)

I always buy yardage, I have never bought FQ. I think you get more for your money and always have yardage leftover for another quilt as well as adding fabric to your stash.
I usually buy 1/2 yard pieces.

Yardage every time the prices on FQs is [at least ]2 1/2 times why pay $12.50 for $5 's worth of fabric

The Jo-Ann Fabrics by me sells them for $1.99 each. I buy them if I only need a small amount of that color, or if they are on sale. Mostly I plan ahead what quilts I need to make and then buy the fabric I need by the yard or more. I only buy my fabric when it is on sale, or if I can get a discount for buying 10 or more yards. Then I stock up.

:roll: I am just over-whelmed about your quilt and the number of pieces it took-questions: how long did it take you to make it and would you please post a picture of it.

Fat Quarters are a bit more expensive, however, as a beginning quilter there are a couple of things you might want to consider:
By all means, buy yardage and save your leftover strips and pieces to build your stash AND Buy Fat Quarters to add immediate variety to your stash.
While the fat quarters are more expensive, you can always find super deals on Ebay. Don't forget thrift stores as a source of stash builders (men's shirts, dresses, etc.) Cut the seams away when you get home and call it new fabric:>)
Welcome and Good luck

if you want a small piece better to buy 1/3 yds only a few pennies more than a fat Q and you get 45 inches instead of 22 like a fat.

Buy nuetrals biege, white, gray and so on in 3 yd pieces always need a background

buy fabrics that coordinate not necessarily from the same line
have florals, muted and fabrics w/ movement in your stash

In my earlier stash building days, I bought fat quarters and added my leftover fabric to the fat quarter container. Now, they just sit there laughing at me. I didn't realize there would be so many scraps from making quilts that I wouldn't need them. One of these days I'm going to make a large squares quilt and use some of them up.

My local LQS charges a ton for a FQ - so I don't typically buy them. I like yardage, it provides fudge room in case of a miscut or something.

It didn't take as long as I thought it would - a couple of weeks, but I wasn't pushing myself to get it sewn, so I might have worked on it only an hour or two then I'd go do something else. It's strip and chain-pieced as much as possible.

There are a couple of rows missing at the top because they're hanging over the upstairs balcony. And the lines just look wavy because the hanging part is rippled a little bit.

I first planned this to be a double nine-patch with star-point sashings and nine-patch cornerstones. But then I couldn't figure out how to get four different fabrics to meet at 8 points in 64 different stars. I made the star blocks with nine patch and square sashing. Much easier.

Yardage at my LQS is usually $9.26 and FQ's from the same bolts are $2.90.

But on Mondays, FQ's are 30% off, so they cost $8.12 a yard - less than yardage.

You can also get some fair quality FQ's at Joann Fabrics for $1.00-1.29/each. Sometimes, they have them at 40% off and I've seen them at 2/$1 or 3/$1 for moonlight madness type of sales. Be careful - try to feel a single thickness of each one - hard to do the way they wrap them. Some of them are truly awful fabrics, but a lot them are medium-quality and a few are very nice.

FQs are usually more expensive per yard.

I started out buying lots of fat quarters so I had variety (which worked great for the applique I was doing at the time), but switched over to yardage (for the baby quilts I'm doing now).

I think it's good to have a collection of both. You never know when your quilting interests are going to change.

I bought many of my fat quarters on ebay in lots. One time I wound up with a huge box of almost 200 different, high quality fat quarters for under $50.

FQ's are generally a little more expensive, but are a great way to have extra stash for that piece that just needs "something"

Which is not a bad price when you see the cost of a yard of fabric. I like fat quarters because I can get a better variety that way, and I tend to use a lot of them. Jan

Gorgeous quilt. I assume that you used a lot of fat quarters to get a good variety of fabrics! Jan

thepolyparrot, I'm in awe. I can only dream that I will be able to make such a beautiful quilt.

FQs are quick too. You can run in and grab a few FQ and not have to wait for someone to cut your fabric.

I found that if my project is pieced with repetitve pattern, yardage is necessary. But if it is an applique, fat quarters come in handy for a variety of color. With applique, you still need yardage for background.

I never buy fat quarters unless they are on sale. Do the math, you get more for your money if you purchase a quarter of a yard.