Layer Cake or Yardage? What Would You Do?
 

I'm going to do the Row By Row Experience, which means 37 quilt shops in a week. I want the license plates. I already have one from Missouri Star Quilt Company. I'm visiting every shop in MO that I can get a hold of, except those in St. Louis which is too far.

I'm going to make the Tipsy Tumbler quilt for my 25 year old son. I need 90 10 inch black squares. I have a template to make the 90 charm squares also the template for the tipsy tumbler.

I just tried to cut a 10 inch practice square. I think I need a larger self healing mat. I have a very large one, and a 24 inch one. I'll take care of that at the infamous adventure of 37 shops.

I'm tempted to click on 2 packages of 10 inch layer cakes, but that would only be 84, not 90.....or even buy 3 black layer cakes next week. But a 3 yards of black would be cheaper by far. I don't know which to do? The block makes up easy. I'm lost. What would you do? Buy a larger mat and start cutting? There's no 10 inch die cut, or you bet I'd jump on that.

I would buy yardage. It wouldn't be that much work to cut it up, and think of all the more fabric or other stuff you can buy with your savings! Good luck and have fun!

I'd go yardage if I want that many all the same color. I go precuts when I want a verity of colors and or prints that coordinate. New cutting matt sounds good, it may help with more accurate cutting.

I'd definitely go yardage since even without a specialty ruler, 10in squares are pretty quick to cut. Sounds like a new mat would really help you plus it's something you'll use often. If you know anyone with a Stripology ruler, it would make cutting layer cakes really quick (plus any other strips you'd want). I just invested in one a couple months ago and absolutely love it. I can cut a charm pack in about 20min starting from ironing the fabric to getting accurate squares. Ridiculously fast.

I would contact Connecting Threads and see if they would do up a custom package of 10 inch squares. They do not have a cutting fee, so you pay the same as yardage.

To get 90 10" squares, you need more than 3 yards of fabric. 2 yards give 28 squares, so you need 6 1/2 yards to get 90 squares.

I agree with Tothill, I would see if Connecting Threads would do the custom cutting for you. I don't like cutting squares wider than my ruler, so I would rather buy precuts.

I would buy yardage because you get uniform and identical colours. If they will cut to 10" squares it is worth someone else doing it if I read correctly you need a new board. The saved money would buy or help towards the cost.

I would go with the yardage from kona cottons

Missouri Star has a 10" template. It's great for cutting layer cake squares with a rotary. https://www.missouriquiltco.com/shop...quare-template

Missouri Star Quilt Shop (No biggie to go to Hamilton, I'm going everywhere else), has the Stripology ruler on their website. Missouri Star has more than Quilters Station in Lee's Summit. I will buy 3 yards of black and cut it. I will buy a larger cutting mat. I have one that takes up the entire table. It gets in everybody's way. I want the one in between. I can get black Kona Cotton, and I want to border it in grey Kona Cotton. I think that's at Joann's. I made a scrap block, it's easy and I think it'll be cute. Thanks for your help...I might check Connecting Threads.

I will get the 10 inch template at Missouri Star. I will be near there next week. I bought their 5 inch charm template. It's a breeze. My Fiskars Fuse cuts 2 1/2 inch squares, but I'm trying to move away from tiny squares.

I buy yardage because you are paying for them to cut and they are not always as accurate with their cutting. I have a June Taylor Shape Cut Pro cutter (bought on sale at JAF) and it has grooves only at 2.5" increments so you could easily cut 10" layer cakes. It will cut 8 squares at a time.
http://www.joann.com/june-tailor-sha...n/2004133.html

I'd go for yardage. Then you can quickly cut or tear 10" strips to cut down into 10" squares. By stacking your strips you can cut a number of 10" squares very quickly and put the money saved toward a larger cutting mat

I'd go with yardage - but I prewash everything, and a 10" layer cake does not end up 10" after washing. In fact, they don't even come out square after being washed. Find it interesting that one direction shrinks up more than the other . . .

Your shop hop sounds real fun! I'm taking June 21st and 22nd off work, and DH and I are going to hit many of the shops in SD. Last year was the first year any shops in SD participated (15) and this year there are several new ones, so that is what I'm after this year.

I took next week off weeks ago, before I realized the date of Row by Row Experience. II miscalculated my day off, but that's okay. called 15 shops yesterday to see if they had the license plates. I am only going 2-3 hours away, and I based it on if they had a website with phone and hours on the website, except the Amish shop. Being that I might miss a couple, there will be 24 stops in Missouri, and 9 in Kansas. In 2 weeks, on Saturday, I'm going to Hamilton, and 6 local shops around here to get the pattern. I knew about this last year but no way would my car make it. I bought the Missouri Star license plate a few weeks ago and decided to get the rest around here and 2 hours away. I have a car with only 4,000 miles on it. I don;t have anyone who would go with me except my mom so I am going and getting the license plates.

It is not recommended to wash precuts. That is asking for trouble.

I live an hour or so from Hamilton, MO....and yes it's very bad. The first time I went it was magical. I visited it again and it was still magical. That's a place I need to go to on the weekend I get paid but without a car payment and make sure every bill is paid. I have to go with a list and it needs to be uncommon fabric. And then know you'll see some fabric that catches your eye and will buy it.

I would buy yardage. Any time I purchased precuts on line they were always smaller. Cheaper to make my own. I am also a prewasher and put the precuts in lingerie bags when I got them. I measured before and that is when I found out they were off on the measurements. After washing they were off even more. Yardage is the way I'd go. Have fun. I watched Jenny's tute on the pattern. You could do that with just about any template with straight lines. Would be interesting with diamonds.

http://www.accuquilt.com/shop/cuttin...-big-dies.html
there is a 10" square die for the go big.

Well that's tempting.

I never use my precuts in set patterns, I buy them because I love making scrappy quilts and when I can get them at a deep discount. I don't think I'd own any if it weren't for MSQC's daily deals.

I don't buy layer cakes to use as squares. The size fits perfectly on most of my Go dies. Especially the BOB dies. Layer four squares on the die and get four perfectly cut pieces to make four Ohio Star blocks or any other of the BOB.

I would figure the cost difference between the yardage and layer cake then guesstimate how long it would take to cut all those 10" squares and see if the difference in price is worth it.

Yardage. Yardage. Yardage. You get more for your money and precuts are not always cut accurately.

Rhondals....please be advised that your math is incorrect if I'm correct in that you want 10 inch squares from yardage.
3 yards of fabric is 108 inches....divide that into 10 inch strips. You will get less than 11 strips (wof)....now divide those 10 inch strips into 10 inch blocks....only 4 from each strip!! You need more than 3 yards to get what you need...6 1/2 or 7 yards for miss cutting. If it were me, I'd just order the 10 inch squares from Missouri Star....3 packs of 40 per pack. You'll have left overs but can always so something with them.

Buy yardage. If you prewash (and with black you probably want to) yardage is easier. I used squares on a project and spray starch with no prewash. The starch made them shrink. I could see it happening...not a good feeling. Plus those squares are cut fairly good, but not always exactly perfect. So you have to decide which allows best use of your time and cash!
Have fun on your marathon trip. Sounds like fun!

Didn't someone here suggest that you buy 3 1/2 yds of black? That way, you'll have enough fabric. There's nothing worse than trying to find matching black. Good luck.

when usng dark colors like black, green or red either pre wash or color test as I have had problems with a lot of these colors bleeding that is why I prefer yardage and pre washing

I would cut my own from yardage. If I goofed some up then I could only blame myself. I would end up using them somewhere else.

I would definitely do yardage for what you want to do.

I agree totally. You should get 7 yds of fabric if you are going to cut the squares. I would also get layer cake pkgs. Just the thought of washing, ironing & cutting all that yardage will take a lot of time that you could be sewing. Of course I rarely prewash my fabric. The quilt gets washed when it is finished.

You might want to check into the Fiskers Rolling Ruler while on your shopping trip. They are wonderful for cutting accurate squares and fabric strips and really save a lot of wear and tear on your hands. I do not think they are all that expensive and can be used to cut like 6 layers of fabric at one time. I have one of the older ones and love it.

Jennifer is correct -- if you only buy 3 yards you will only get 40 10" squares. You need to buy 6 1/2 yards to get 90 10" squares. I would buy yardage -- I have the June Tailor Shape Cut and use the large rotary cutter to cut the maximum number of pieces at once.