I have found this to be true, even with "good" charms like Modas....Buyer beware!

I agree with the post that said it depends on where you get them. Moda is usually really good, plus you can tell when they come in a stack if they are off. Ebay is iffy at best. I bought a few jelly rolls that came up short (I am talking about 1.5 to2 inches in length). I go by the learning experience, if I have good results, I stick with them, or cut them myself.

I love the charm squares, especially the Moda's. I have a lot of them that I bought from a store going out of business and am making bags from them. They are close enough to 5 inches for me. I love having all the fabrics from one designer. My only problem and it isn't a big one is all the little pieces of lint coming off the pinked edges and sticking to my shirt.

I haven't had a problem so much with the precut "squares" but hoffman bali pops are not cut to an accurate 2 1/2 inches, i learned this lesson the hard way

There doesn't seem to be any point in buying precuts if you have to recut them!!!I have never bought precuts and now will be very careful , where I buy them from .

I have had good luck with Moda charms but bad luck with ebay where the seller does the cutting. Some of the squares were cut including the slevege edge in the five inches.

When I cut mine (for sale) I do not use a pinked edge, do not include selvage and if they are even 1/8" off I put them aside to cut the next smaller size out of them. Plus I always add a few extra just in case there is one in the bundle that the buyer has a problem with.

DH usually does most of the fabric cutting but I do NOT let him cut charm squares because he is not as precise as I am.

I too have had problems with charm pk and jelly rolls. I decided to that I would not spend any more money on these. I went out and bought the GO. Now I know they a perfect. No more problems.

I second this. I got some beautiful batik charm packs that were pinked, and had a heck of a time working with them. They seemed to be 5" at the outer edge, so that if you sewed a 1/4" seam, there wasn't much holding at the inside edge. So, I guess I unconsciously adjusted for this, and ended up with bigger seams allowances, and thus smaller blocks.

I was using them inter-mixed with true 5" squares, and it was a real struggle.

I will avoid pinked edges in the future.

If you compare the cost of pre-cut fabric with cutting your own you will be shocked. You know it has to be a little more to pay the person who cut them, but sometimes it is about 10 times more! That is unreasonable.