Just wondering... why do YOU buy pre-cuts?
 

After spending two full days cutting 2.5" strips in the store last week, I know what MY answer to the question would be.

But I was curious as to why other quilters buy pre-cuts.

Is it for the variety you get in a bundle?

Or to save you time?

Or because you just don't like to cut?

... or maybe some other reason?

I avoid buying pre-cuts because I like to wash my fabrics before cutting them.

I usually don't buy precuts(due to price) but I will when i need a lot of variety. For ex., DD wanted a quilt from all B and W prints. by the time i would have bought enough different prints and cut them myself, the cost of buying precuts -in this case jellyrolls-looked pretty good. i also will buy charm packs if i find them at a good price, just to have a variety on hand for a quick baby quilt. I usually pair them with solids from my stash.

I buy them because they're there and I'm weak

Me too. :D

I've bought 3 or 4 jelly rolls and a few charm packs .... like the variety of fabrics (and all the u-tube videos showing all the clever ways to use them) ... now I just need to find just the *right* pattern for them!!! lol

jody

I buy them when want a full line of a particular fabric. Then I may buy some larger pieces of the same line to go along with the precuts.

I don't buy them because I wash my fabric and because I don't always like the color combinations. Can understand your answer. My back aches just thinking about it!!

I don't buy them, but I love receiving them as gifts. Mostly for the variety of fabrics. They are like scraps to me.

I have some jelly-rolls purchased on clearance in my stash, but have never used them because I prefer to pre-wash my fabrics.

I bought several charm packs to make a Twister quilt. It gave me a great variety of squares without spending a lot of money and pretty much no labor to cut all those squares. It made a nice scrappy quilt. Other that that I would rather buy the yardage and cut it myself.
Sue

I don't usually. Buy. Them but I did to try two technique s I saw on youtube

Variety!!!! And sometimes its because the precut ( variety) takes some of the issue of finding enough coodinating fabric. I like picking out fabrics( way too much so) but there are times I just want it a fast way to get fabrics that look good together.
Just a note : I think the way you have your precuts with the bolts shown, and the yardage for each "slice" available is wonderful.. The metalics homeade ones are my favorite, and I am not normally a big consumer of precuts , but these really are irresistable.

I am a sucker for pre-cuts, but I have learned some lessons. I only buy from certain manufactures, and never buy a pre-cut when the label says 'all measurements are approximate'. I usually buy charms, layer cakes, and jelly rolls but once in a great while I will splurge and buy myself a fat quarter bundle if I'm crazy about the collection. I hate cutting strips and squares and am willing to pay the extra dough to have it done for me!

I don't buy them, as I prefer to pre-wash my fabrics, and the cuts are high priced as well.

Never buy them...mainly for the reasons the others gave...I pre-wash. Some of the jelly rolls etc I have encountered here (Australia) seem to be of poor quality and the colour ranges are not to my taste. However, I may weaken and source some from the USA....I am constructing a string quilt and the cutting is ....well...tedious:)

How about why we do NOT buy them? I'm another one, who only uses pre-washed fabric.

The only ones I will buy are fat quarters. I cut my own, I actually enjoy cutting!!!!

I buy them from Connecting Threads and they're not too expensive and I like the instant gratification they provide.

I fell for them in the beginning of my quilting learning process, have use a few of them for various projects I usually don't even by FAQ anymore usually buy 1/2yd or more depending ....

I have bought only one jellyroll (because I couldn't resist the fabrics, and it was on sale) and one of your small jelly things with the gorgeous batiks. I like the idea of the convenience, and the variety...but I still haven't used them (I've had the jellyroll for about six months now), and I am nervous about the unwashed fabric aspect (I am a prewasher), so I won't buy anymore until I see how these two work out.

Alison

Yeah, well... my co-workers kept asking about my back, too... but it didn't bother me a bit. However, my thumb and index fingers went halfway numb from pressing down so hard on the blade. But I spring back, and they're nearly 100% again.

I decided that this is NOT a job that I could ask the staff to do... don't want them to get any repetitive stress injuries. I guess I don't mind putting myself at risk. Or maybe I'm just a tough ol' bird...

Actually, cutting batiks isn't bad; I can do five strips at a time. But the metallics that Lori likes so much, I could only do three at a time.

That is what I do also.

I don't buy them often, but when I do, it's to save time.

I buy them for several reason's. I can really only buy fabric once a year. I am not good at putting different fabrics together. For me they are a special gift to myself. I look at others quilts all year long and decide what patterns I would like to make and then I make a wishlist of fabrics(precuts) to use. Then when I can, I get enough to make more than one quilt and spend the rest of the year making them.

I buy them because of the full line of fabric. They are fun to buy and when a shop if there is nothing else to buy, I ll get a jelly roll or a charm pack.

I rarely buy pre-cuts, but I couldn't resist that small jelly of beautiful rainbow batiks. It was only because I could see the full range of the strips in the stack of fabrics. And I have only ever bought 4 charm packs because they were on sale...really don't like working with some of the fabrics that are in them. I prefer to buy yardage.

I agree! I never buy precuts because I don't like to be relegated to blocks comprised of 2 1/2 ", 5" etc. but I am "color dumb" and appreciate seeing colors/lines that "go together"!

I've never used them (ok- I did buy jelly roll to use as binding), but I think I'd really like to. I don't like cutting one bit. I only when I'm at my sewing machine, sewing!

The only precuts I ever bought were cut by a board member that cuts and sells on Ebay. I wanted to get a large variety of 5" squares and had quite a few projects to get worked on. Usually the precuts are too expensive. This person used her scraps and the price was very reasonable. I have to admit tho that I drool over some of the precut sets I see..I also wouldn't be sure how many to buy for a quilt: for example, how may jelly rolls would be needed for a twin size or a full size? I am sure it would add up

Convenience! Convenience! Convenience!
&
Pretty colors! Pretty Colors! Pretty Colors!

I am a dye hard pre-wash person, and proud of it!! LOL So no die cuts for me. I was given a jelly roll which I used but did not have enough to do the whole top with just one jellyroll, so mixed in some frabic from my stash. I don't care for fat quarters either, tryed them (yep! I washed them first in a swetter bag) great for the variety but then had odd size scraps left with nothing really to mix with them for a scrappy so there they sit in a basket with my other scraps some day I will use them I'm sure but not for a while.But that is just me I have a friend who only buys yardage for borders and backing, everything else is pre cut, and that works for her. Sure glad we are all diffrent, makes for a more enjoyable world!

I love the precuts as it gives me such a variety of color coordinated fabrics. Do they cost more, yes, but sometimes you just have to be nice to yourself. I try to buy them when they are sell, mostly jelly rolls, charm and layer cakes. The batiks are just too hard to resist.

I don't buy them. I find them to be A- way too costly, B- not cut accurately, c- never prewashed and D- rarely anything in my styles.

I think for the variety, and I love coordinating fabrics!

I haven't yet bought pre-cuts. I can't get over the price. It doesn't seen worth it to me. I'd rather buy yardage. =)

There are a lot of variety of ways and patterns to use them, you can buy fabric but you will have to buy a lot to get the variety.

I buy precuts because I never prewash - love the feel of fresh off the bolt fabrics (stiff) for piecing. It gives me sooo much more accuracy of piecing when fabric is stiff. Can anyone tell - I am really close to OCD (big grin).
Absolutely loved the strips I bought from FavoriteFabrics - only wished I had ordered two instead of one!!! I like the variety in a strip set with no duplicates because I like the scrappy look. I also like them because I like to try out the new fabrics available - when I fall in love with the precuts then I have to buy yardage to do bigger projects. Looking right now for the perfect color way to do a king size quilt for my DSIL.

Kayluvs2quilt, I'm glad you were so pleased with the strips you bought! I made five groups of metallic blender strips last week. (That's what I was slaving away on!) They're pretty, and the color combinations turned out quite nice... ... but I'm really hoping to come up with more batik strips. They were SO much easier to cut! I truly enjoyed working on those. The more time I spend around batiks, the more I grow to like them.

I have bought a few charm packs and a few jelly rolls, personally don't care much for the layer cakes. I bought my charm packs along with some matching yardage cause I wanted only some of the line in smaller amounts so the charm pack worked out perfect. So when I buy pre-cuts which is not often it is to get more of a particular line of fabric that I want only small amounts of.