PreCuts & QUILTING ~ Jelly Rolls ~ Layer Cakes & More
 

I'm interested in knowing how many people
buy and use precuts in their quilting projects and why.

what are your favorite precuts ?

I recently purchased a well known manufactures charm pack, thinking it was a good way to get the variety without going to many shops and having to purchase more fabric than I needed ( many shops have a minimum that will cut). Even though I broke my rule of not buying because of cutting variances... I did it any way... well back to my rule of not buying precuts. The charms were off 1/4 inch on one side... so much for a fast easy project. I hade to recut and the pattern I had my heart set on was to use every bit of the 5 inch square.

wow I use tons of precuts and have yet to have an issue.
I'm sure machines need to be calibrated or something on a regular basis.
and I believe it would be up to us the customer to let them know something is off...IMHO
I can see how it would throw your project off.

I buy very few pre-cuts for the simple fact they are always off from 1/4" - an inch. I like to go to the store and just get the yardage and even then I will buy an extra 1/2 yard atleast to allow for shrinkage for pre washing. If I run out I can go down the road. The majority of the quilt shops I go to most often are within a couple miles and getting on the freeway can get me there in a matter of about 5-8 minutes.

I have had good luck with Moda. Joannes are horrible as are Wal Mart. A friend used the Bali Pops and they were really off.

I have found precuts very tempting but the price is so high when you consider what you are paying in a premium. I am on a very limited budget. But I have recently bought (they were on sale for less than the price per yard) two packages of TT
6" precuts (6"WOF). I haven't found the right pattern for them yet.

I have bought a few charm packs from MSQC when they were the daily deal (and when I needed other things from them to justify the shipping) simply for the variety. They are nice enough, but I enjoy cutting my own pieces, so I don't rely upon them. If I had trouble physically cutting, I think they would be a godsend.

Has anyone worked out the cost per yard of precuts?

I usually pick up some jelly rolls when I go to a quilt show, it is a nice way to get a variation in color without having tons of fabrics :) I always keep a few on hand just in case I need a "oh can you make a quilt for...." from my mom. :) Who seems to think it is her life long mission to keep me behind in quilting....lol

You can get 14 strips at 2.5in per yard of material. So you would need about 2 7/8 yds of fabric to equal a jelly roll ( or there abouts) assuming 40 strips in a jelly roll.

At lets say $11.95/yd fabric, then that is $11.95 * 3yds = $35.85, typical jelly rolls are around $30-35 each....

so assuming variations in fabric prices (balis more than printed) then you are basically paying the same as yardage. The difference is that you get anywhere from 20 - 40 different fabrics rather than a handful.