Value of a kit vs purchasing yardage for the pattern
 

So convenient-grab and go-and a timesaver too! But...is there extra for oopses or if you want to use more of one color than another? Are they cut evenly? Is anything ever missing? What's the mark up, have you ever figured it out?

Please share your kit buying experiences and things to watch for for those of us who are still a bit leery of those tempting plastic bag delights.

They're great if you want someone else to do your creative thinking, or gather the materials for you. I've done two. The experience wasn't gratifying for me, but the recipients loved the results.

I am not a big fan of kits - but have bought a few.

It really depends on the quilt shop who is packaging it. The few kits I bought were sufficient in the fabric yardage to do the exact quilt, nothing more. One kit I purchased from a huge shop was a kit for a Holiday plaid star wallhanging. There were extra FQs in the package - very nice in that you could better choose your colors. The downside to that kit was all the FQs were not cut on the straight of the goods so there was lots of wastage as I cut square. Another kit I purchased on clearance at Connecting threads - that one was ample enough as far as yardage - I had quite a bit left over - but again - not enough to have changed the pattern drastically.

Hope this helps. I have found - if you are thinking about changing something - then it is easier to purchase the pattern and pick your own fabrics.

I just finished a wall quilt kit for October. They had plenty of fabric for all of it, which was nice. Maybe you could ask to open up the kit and make sure everything is included in the package. I haven't ever done that but it's a thought!

I rarely buy kits, mainly because I'll end up substituting different fabrics that I like better. I used to do civil war BOM and we got fabric with it, but I rarely used more than one of them if that because I liked what I had better. To say the least, that class not only taught me alot about the civil war because the teacher was a buff and would tell us about different things that happened and they were facts and I also knew every store that had great civil war fabric and now have a great stash of them. I just did an embroidery retreat and they offered a kit for the fabric and didn't charge extra to put it together so due to lack of time I bought it. As I was pulling my fabric I started seeing fabric in my own stash that I liked better and so alot of the quilt is totally me. Including the outside rows of blocks that were also civil war blocks, they just happened to be the same size of the class that I had taken a few yrs ago and never put together. I used them instead of making more and so my quilt is all my choices. The retreat had two of each for the civil war blocks but I had enough that they are all different and in each corner are reverse applique blocks done for that error. So it really depends. I've heard some say they've gotten kits and the fabric cuts weren't correct. I have been told that you should always cut your largest pieces first and then cut the smaller parts so that it equals out. If you cut the smaller pieces first you may not have enough to cut the larger ones; just something to think about.

I realize i didn't answer your questions in the first post.

yes, i had enough fabric. even cuts were not an issue, and value was subjective. How do you like to spend your time and money?

I have a lot of Connecting Threads kits. I have always had fabric left over from them. Some kits with small pieces in the blocks from other places will put in small squares, just enough to cut the one piece. Once I see a kit is like that I don't buy any more. I am very happy with CT kits. I buy them when on clearance and use the fabric for other projects.

I've only bought one kit, and one piece was 3/4" too small to get what I needed. The company made it right, but I may shy away from any more kits. However, that is just me.

I bought a kit once; did not like it and returned it to Keepsake Quilting no questions asked. Buy another? Often I do not like the colors in the kits. However it seems to me that it might actually be cheaper than buying all fabric in yardage since only get what you need and are not required to buy extra yardage.

Also what gets on my nerves is when a LQS only sells the pattern in a kit and not seperatly. With CT you can often but not always buy the pattern seperate from the kit. .