Do You Cut All at Once or as You Go?
 

The least fav question got me to thinking about getting ready to start a quilt. I cut as needed, not all at once. I catch my mistakes without wasting fabric. (I should say repurposing fabric.) I think that I don't have the patience to cut all at once, yet I am a very patient person! I just want to get started piecing! Also, the quilts that I make are not always repeated blocks. And you?

I do both. It depends on the quilt pattern.. But as I have gotten older (quilting about 20 years) meaning 81. I don't enjoy the cutting. I am fortunate that my hands work well but they are clumsy so I drop things frequently

I cut everything the first time around and label it but the binding leaving it for last for some reason. I'm usually cutting with more fabric than I needed so if there is a mistake I have enough to make corrections.

I cut all at once. I only do Quilt As You Go as I love the process. The front of my quilts look like regular quilts as I only use connecting strips on the back, making them with the same fabric as the backing.

I'll cut enough to make one or two blocks to make sure I understand the instructions, then I'll cut the rest out to make sure I have enough to go around plus some left over. I even cut out the binding, stitch the strips together, press them in half and roll them up on a tp cardboard. I write the name of the quilt on the cardboard and place it into a container just for bindings. This way if I put the project aside for a while, I don't have to remember whether I have the binding or not as I always get it put together at the begining plus add another 10 inches for good measure. I'll use my home-made alphabet pins to keep what I've cut under control.

I goofed up on my last project which of course isn't finished yet and didn't cut all the fabric at the beginning as I didn't know just how much I would need so when I went to cut more, I cut from the wrong fabric but luckily was able to use the miscuts for something else within the project.

I do both. Most of my quilts are very scrappy and I have lots of scraps to chose from so if I make a wrong cut that piece just waits for another quilt to join where it fits.

I rarely cut all at once. Even though I always buy more fabric than required, I've found that cutting as I go helps me not feel stressed about making mistakes. Plus I'm a bit ADHD and doing the same thing for a long time bores me to death. I cut enough to make a few blocks, then go sew them, then cut more. It also helps my body not to sit (or stand) and do one thing for too long. I try to always get up and move around. I don't have nearly as many aches if I do that. Sure, it takes me longer to finish a quilt but I'm retired and not on a deadline so it doesn't matter.

I do both as well and it often depends on what I'm doing, but my preference is to cut in batches as I go along. Like Lena, most of my quilts are scrappy and most of the time I don't even know how big they will be at the end of the day so it's easiest to cut enough to get going with and then cut more as I need it. If there is complicated cutting to do, however, I am more likely to do all of that at once while I'm in the "groove" to make sure I remember exactly where the template goes or how many background pieces need to be reversed, etc.

After cutting enough for, and sewing up a test block, I cut in batches so that my hand doesn't get too sore. I find I don't get as bored either.

I usually do my own design so am pretty confident about my sizes, but I have learned that a test block is a good idea. I usually use whatever bits and pieces are floating around for the test.,

If it is a "planned" quilt, with only certain colors, yes I cut all of it first. All colors and all shapes.

For my usual scrappy style, I cut at least each stage at one time. I will do strip units when I can, would rather combine short strips of two colors and then cut down into 2 square units, than cut all individual squares. I usually have a count I want, say 4-6 and cut the strips to that length. Sew, and subcut, and on to the next unit. Same sort of thing if I am making HST, I put them in strips and then cut once they are together, no way am I ever going to cut 2k tiny triangles when only 1k cuts will do!

Yeah, if I mistake it's pretty big, but I can figure out what to do to get around it...