I bought yardage for my first quilt and have only used precuts since. I just like the look of all the blended colour together. I tend to buy a lot of Moda pre cuts and have never had an issue of the cuts not being accurate. Have fun and happy shopping.

To build a stash a little at a time with a variety of fabric, I'd recommend this :

1. When you find a fabric you LOVE that is multicolored, buy a yard of it.

2. Then buy coordinating fabrics at 1/3 yard each. There's more versatility in 1/3 yd cut than 1/4 yd (eg. 1/3 yd --12 inches-- can be subcut into two 5" strips with 2" strip left, or two 6" , etc, wheres a long 1/4 yd cut is more limited in size and shape).

3. Consider using a variety of pattern -- checks, plaids, geometrics , florals, solids, stripes, etc. make for visual interest. Stripes can be hardest to use, so I buy them only in fat eighths or FQ unless I'm doing a binding in a fabulous stripe.

4. Contrast is the key to making your design stand out. You need lights, mediums and darks. Lights and neutrals are perhaps the least thrilling to buy, but necessary. If your quilt has all the same values, it could look really busy or really dull.

5. Remember that fabrics come and go rather quickly. If you see one you really love a lot-- you love the look, the feel, everything-- get 2 yards. Some people will buy more, but since you're just starting out, you would do best to experiment to find out what kinds of quilts you like to make. I find that I seldom use more than 1.5-2 Yards of any fabric, as I love to play with so many scraps. I like to quilt for kid charities, so bright, happy prints are my thing.

Precuts are convient and yardage is a lot cheaper.

... unless of course you stockpile yardage and never get around to using it. :eek:

Thank you so much! This is Great advicce! I look forward to building up my stash!

I love fat quarters! I won't spend over $2.00 for them. If I saw them for $1.00, I would snatch them up!

This is exactly what I do, buy remnants from my LQS. I get all the latest fabrics for a fraction of the cost and cut my own strips, charms and squares. I have plenty of variety that way I bought a slotted strip ruler to help with cutting my strips straight. I do buy charm packs or layer cakes from Connecting Threads. Though the charm packs are just samplers with less charms (around 15 fabrics) I can still get some variety for a small price. I do find yardage to be a better value if we are talking strictly cost.

I prefer yardage for the most part, because I like to wash any chemical out of the fabric. Also by washing I can see if there is a bleeding issue. I did buy a couple of charm packs and 3 layer cakes some time back. I wanted to see what the fabric was like with that particular company. Still haven't used them. Never bought a jellyroll. I'm a scrap quilter and I even wash the scraps folks give me IF it hasn't been washed. I use mesh laundry bags for that.

I look at MSQC daily deals each day, can you share what other companies have daily deals?

I generally buy yardage because I often mix different lines of fabric instead of just sticking to one line for a quilt. I will buy precuts for some quilts though where the patterns has you use 5" (charms) or 10"(layer cakes) squares because I'm usually going for quick when using those patterns! (ok, maybe a bit lazy too!).
I rarely buy FQ unless I'm planning a scrappy quilt and want that mix--I think they are rather expensive and somewhat limiting on what you can do with them--but they are good for applique.
I'd suggest you don't just go out and purchase fabrics for a stash, but purchase for specific projects--I usually will buy a little extra "just in case" and that then becomes part of your stash--and it will grow pretty darn fast as those of us that quilt a lot will attest to!