What are your favorite pre-cuts and why?
 

I have decided to actually ***use*** my stash (a radical idea, I know, but......) so I am cutting up yardage for future quilts. I'm starting with my batiks because I really enjoy those fabrics. Most of my batiks are 1/2-yard or 1-yard cuts. So far, I am cutting mostly:

2.5" strips because they are useful for so many quilt patterns, including 9-patch quilts. Plus I am currently making a batik quilt that takes 5" centers and 2.5" strips surrounding the centers.

2" strips because I like this size for log cabin quilts.

1.25" strips of dark batiks because I plan on making an uneven log cabin out of batiks and I like the dominant design to be the darks rather than the lights (which will be 2").

I am also cutting 5" squares but am wondering if I really want so many of them. They work for my current quilt, but I'm not so sure about future quilts. Because I typically cut a 5" strip of yardage and then cut that down into squares, I end up with a lot of 5" squares of each fabric.

Anyway, I am wondering which pre-cuts others find most useful, especially when cutting up stash yardage.

Look over some patterns you want to make in the future to help you decide. I use a lot of 2.5" strips, so I often cut a few pieces of those when cutting up my yardage/scraps. Layer cake (10" squares) are good too because you can subcut those to other sizes/shapes.

I don't cut into yardage until I know what I want to make. I find it harder to store cut pieces than yardage, and I can see the yardage that's available more easily. However I do understand the beauty of being able to dive right into sewing without having to cut first. I just don't think it would work for me. I do sometimes go through my scraps, though, and cut lots and lots of 1.5" strips into lengths for log cabin quilts.

It is a radical decision to actually use one's scraps. For the past few years I have shipped them off to people here and to my sister that belongs to a guild and several of the ladies love to make string quilts and always asking for scraps. I have bought a several jelly rolls and discovered I didn't like the jelly roll race outcome. So I am like Dunster, I prefer not to cut them before I have an idea for the quilt in mind because there is nothing more frustrating finding I am short on a specific fabric.

Fat quarters and jelly rolls seem to be what I like the most and have the most patterns usages for

I don't use pre cuts, and I don't cut my stash fabric until I know how I am going to use it. Sorry I am no help!!

I use my Go and cut different size squares, triangles, and strips. I keep them all the size to combine to make a 12" finished block. I store them as neutrals and darks. Neutral is anything lighter then a brown paper sack. Dark is everything else. Re Bonnie Hunter. I don't separate by color though. I use these to make scrappy quilts, nothing else.

I try to keep my stash very small -- one bin. There are 2 options for leftovers. The first is to assign them to a new quilt asap, in which case I cut them into what I need. The second option is to add to a crazy quilt I've decided to start working on to use up my scraps because they're starting to get out of control. I do occasionally have a few pieces of fabric that I really love & hope to use in the future. I mostly do hand applique work so I love Fat 16ths (9x11") -- and love buying that size at LQS, also. I also like 2.5" strips as they are great for sashing & borders.

Because my stash was really starting to get to be too much -- mostly because I had a 2nd whole bin (sweater size for under the bed) that's in a storage closet -- I decided to open up some of that fabric to my 4 year old niece. I made her a flannel board & let her pick from certain fabrics -- especially JAF/HL fabrics from when I didn't know any better. I bought a pinking blade for my rotary cutter & kept an old mat that got warped which I use for pinking cutting. She picks 1-2 fabrics that she really likes most each time she comes to visit & I cut them into doll clothes for her "design wall". I'm thinking this next time I might also cut her some 2" squares so she can do some quilt layouts as well. She absolutely loves that thing; it gets those fabrics out of my stash; and I get the joy of seeing them up on a design wall whenever I go to visit her, too.

I don't have many precuts. I'd like to do more with jelly rolls, but so far I have mostly FQ's. You might be like Joan Ford's books about scrap quilting. I've checked them out from our local public library. She talks about organizing and cutting up scraps and provides some patterns. http://hummingbird-highway.com/

I only cut fabric as and when required. I am not very keen on precuts. 21/2", 11/2", 51/2" squares. 101/2" squares or just 51/2" strip ready to precut.