At least they were bigger. It was more work but you could fix it.

I have purchased Moda charm packs that have been way off 4.5" rather than 5" so I know what you mean!

Hugs

Caroline

I measure peak to peak. The zig zagged edges are another reason I hate precuts. The first time I bought a jelly roll it had straight edges. I guess it was before they started zig zagging everything.

I had one moda jelly roll that had a big angle at the fold of about half the strips. luckily I was able to get the pieces I needed from it.

In the meantime this current project is such a pain I'm going to be sure to find patterns for the rest (of my precuts) that require NO precision and/or have the pieces cut both ways before using them.

Oh and I agree-bigger is better than too small (like the riley blake layer cake that was a full 1/4" short on one side of every square-luckily I had to cut them all down anyway).

I have only bought one precut ever, a Robert Kaufman jelly roll, and it was just fine. I normally buy yardage, but in this case had a project planned and wanted the variety that a jelly roll gave me.

So glad I saw this topic, though. I will be very mindful of precuts in the future.

Why does it get worse when you starch?

I haven't purchased too many precuts, it seems most of my patterns call for yardage to be cut of your own choice of fabric. I'm glad you thought to measure early enough in your project. I am working on a Antler Design quilt that has you "proofing" your blocks as they are finished and I've not always been diligent about doing so but it is an eye-opener for me....

Many times precuts are cut with a small pinking edge. If you measure from the point of the pinked edge, it will be about 1/8th inch too wide. Not sure if that is what happened, but it might be. Sorry you have been having problems.

Precuts can be helpful if you are going to use the full piece or cut it in halves or quarters or use them for applique or paper piecing. They are hard to use without waste if you have several piece sizes cut from the same color I have a few but I don't think I will buy more-except basics to use as backgrounds.

Pinking edges are like movie subtitles. After a few minutes I forget I'm using them.