Complete Guide to Fat Quarters (2023)

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Sewing and quilting is great fun, but sometimes enormous pieces of fabric are a lot to deal with!

Measuring and cutting an entire yard of fabric to get the size you want can be time-consuming and you may not even get the most accurate measurements. After all, the larger the fabric, the more difficult it will be to measure accurately!

Even more, larger fabrics mean more waste. If you just want a small shape, cut around the outline. Usually we cut bigger than necessary!

Large pieces of fabric can be a so hassle for you. Is there a solution for this?

Pre-cut fabrics

Enter pre-cut fabrics! Pre-cut fabrics may seem unnecessary to beginners, but they are a godsend for the experienced seamstress.

These are the bundles of fabric you find at any fabric store – pre-measured, pre-cut and packaged.

Pre-cut fabrics have many uses; Besides saving sewers (especially quilters) tens of hours measuring and cutting their fabric, they also reduce the chance of wasted fabric.

Pre-cut fabrics are very useful and, in theory, easy to understand. owever, when you visit the fabric store, you can get confused.

There are many types of pre-cut fabric to choose from. If you have a project in mind, you may wonder what pre-cut fabric to buy.

Each fabric has different names, sizes and uses. What’s worse, some manufacturers call the same pre-cut fabric size different! ow are you supposed to understand this pre cut madness?

Fortunately, this article is here to guide you! Once you’ve mastered the pre-cut fabric (and maybe a hand printed reference in your wallet), you’ll for pre-cut fabric in no time.

What is a Fat Quarter?

To understand pre-cut tissues, we will have to start with fat quarters. Despite its funny name, this term will form the basis of our pre-cut fabric journey.

ow long is a good quarter of an hour? A thick quarter size of fabric usually measures 18 inches by 22 inches. For most of us, that makes little sense unless we have a piece of cloth in front of us.

To help you visualize a good quarter of an hour, imagine a piece of cloth. Then imagine that you measure a meter of fabric of this length.

ow big is a meter of fabric? For those new to sewing or those needing a refresher, I always measured a yard and equals 36 inches.

Then imagine folding this piece of fabric into quarters. Cut the fabric along these folds. You end up with four pieces, or a bundle of fat quarters.

What makes fat quarters difficult? They are not always the same width. Most manufacturers make 44-inch wide cloth bolts, but this is not always the case. Therefore, fat quarters can have different widths.

Connecting all the beams should always get you a meter (or, in some places, a meter) of value. fabric.

ow to use a Fat Quarter when sewing

There are a few more variations of pre-cut fabric, but thick quarters are very useful in their own right. With the correct pattern, use every piece of the fat quarters you have in your bundle.

The following are the steps for a quilt with a flying geese pattern. This pattern consumes every scrap of fabric in a thick quarter bundle, meaning you don’t waste any. It also has minimal cutting.

This pattern can help you understand how versatile fat quarters can be and the possibilities of pre-cut fabric. For those new to pre-cut fabrics, this project is very beginner-friendly.

Flying Geese

Flying geese are a part of quilting. They are a pattern composed of small squares (cut into triangles) patched onto a larger square.

Overall; the pattern resembles abstract geese flying in mid-air formation.

Flying We can use geese as patchwork quilt blocks in other quilting techniques. We can also use them for a quick way to add accents to a project, or when you need to sew borders.

Traditional flying geese are rectangular, with a width of twice its length. If you are referring to a pattern that requires flying geese, it should specify the size of your patch.

For this tutorial we have’ll use squares that are 7 ¼ x 7 ¼ inches. Patch eight of these squares to make a rectangle.

Materials

For this measurement you need three different bundles of thick quarters.

For a consistent color and pattern, try to have at least two identical beams, preferably solid in pattern and neutral.

This fabric will serve as a background for your geese. The other bundle will serve as your geese.

Method

1. Cut out your squares. This pattern will make 7 ¼ x 7 ¼ inch squares.
2. Cut out four smaller squares for your geese. With these dimensions, these smaller geese should be 3 7/8 x 3 7/8 inch squares.
3. Now take one of these four smaller squares. Draw a line on the back of your square with chalk or washable markers. Make a line from one corner to the other corner. Do this for the rest of the squares.
4. Take one of the smaller squares and place it on a corner of the larger square, right sides together. Take another smaller square and place it on the opposite corner of the larger square, large sides together. Make sure the edges . The smaller squares should overlap slightly in the center of the larger square, and the line you drew earlier should run continuously through both squares.
5. Pin the small squares in place.
6. Sew two seams along the marked lines of your smaller squares, leaving a ¼ inch seam from the line. Press to set the seams and not reverse.
7. Now cut along the line through the center of your smaller squares.
8. Open the fabrics and finger press along the triangles for each half of the square. Each unit should now look like a larger triangle, with two smaller triangles protruding from the bottom.
9. Now take another smaller square and place it on top of your larger triangle, against the tip, right sides together. The lines you created should run from the tip to the center of the triangle border (between the two smaller triangles). This smaller square should stick out slightly.
10. Sew two seams along the marked line, with a ¼ seam from the line. Press to set seams cubits, but don’t turn around.
11. Like the previous squares, cut along the marked line.
12. Push open the triangle. this point you should have four units of rectangular flying geese!

This video inspects fat quarters.

Fat Quarter Pillows

For those who want a more functional project you can do this quick and easy thick quarter pillow.

Since it requires very little sewing, it’s a great beginner project!

Materials

• A bundle of thick quarters.
• Matching thread.
• Cushion filling.
• Straight pins.
• Measure.
• Wire.
• Needle.

Method

1. Prepare your cloth pieces. Try to match them in color and pattern. Iron them to remove the creases.
2. Place two pieces (which are complementary and pattern) together. These pieces will form the front and back of your pillow. For now it is unnecessary to determine which is the front or back fabric.
3. Place one piece of fabric on top of the other, right sides together.
4. Pin the outline of the fabric with your straight pins. A pin every two inches should be enough.
5. Now it is time to mark the seams. With your yardstick, make a line parallel to the edge of the fabric, keeping a ¼ inch seam from the edge. Leave a gap of at least two inches on one side. We will later turn our fabric inside out and pull our fabric through this opening.
6. Now put your fabric under your sewing machine and sew! Use a continuous backstitch, starting at part of the opening and running around the entire perimeter of your pillowcase. Pay close attention to the opening.
7. When I did your sewing, it’s time to stuff your pillow! Turn the pillow inside out. If you run into issues, use a plug or gauge to reverse it completely.
8. Fill your pillowcase with your plug or yardstick to push the fillings deeper into the pillowcase. Make sure you don’t stuff too much!
9. Now it is time to close the hole you made earlier. To do this, fold in the seams and follow the seams you have already sewn. Pin it closed and sew by hand.

For more projects with thick parts, check out this list from Crazy Little Projects.

Other types of pre-cut fabric

If you are used to thick quarters, you can branch out to other types of pre-cut fabric!

Remember that most of these measurements on the dimensions of the thick quarters, cut into smaller shapes.

Fat eighth

A fat eighth is a fat quarter that has in half. The size of your fat eighth depends on whether I have cut it lengthwise or widthwise.

For a thick 22 x 45 cm quarter (made from a garden 44 inches wide), a thick eighth cut lengthwise will be 45 x 30 cm.

On the other hand, a thick eighth cut lengthwise will measure 22 x 23 inches. 0

Layer Cake

Sometimes your pattern needs perfect squares. You can use layer cakes for that! Unlike fat quarters, a layer cake is a perfect square, measuring 10 inches on all sides.

There are approximately four layer cakes in a fat quarter.

Charm Pack

If you need squares smaller than a layered cake, you can use a Charm Pack! A charm pack is a quarter of a layer cake. It’s a perfect square, measuring five inches on all sides.

They Ogkb6PeuflI6p2T5BGb in packs of about 40 to 42 pieces and are approximately equal to three quarters.[196590aso]Mini-charm

For even smaller squares, enter the mini-charm, which is a quarter of is a charm pack. It’s also a perfectly square, measuring 2.5 inches on all sides.

Mini charms often come in packs of 40 or 42 pieces, which equates to a good quarter of an hour.

Jelly Roll

Sometimes you need long, thin strips of fabric. For that there is the jelly roll! I base the size of a jelly roll on the length of a meter of fabric, not a fat quarter.

Their length is equal to the width of your fabric. For fabric with a width of 44 inches, a jelly roll is 44 inches on the long side, while the smaller side always equals 2.5 inches.

In In other words, a jelly roll is as long as two fat quarters. Jelly rolls come in packs of about 40 pieces and are equal to about 2 ¾ yards of fabric (or six fat quarters).

oney Bun

For those who need even thinner strips of fabric, you have the honey bun. These strips of fabric, also called thin strips, are thinner than jelly rolls.

They are the same length, but their smaller side is 1.2 inches. oney balls usually come in packs of 40 and are equal to about 1 2/3 feet of fabric.

oneycombs

oneycombs, or hexagonal patterns, are popular in the quilting community.

For those who want pre-cut fabrics in a hexagonal shape, the honeycombs are 15 cm away from one corner to each opposite corner.

Turnover

For those who want triangles, turnover is the pre-cut fabric for you.

Like their namesake, sales measure six inches along the bottom. I cut them from six-inch squares on all sides.

This video shows another project you can try with fat quarters.

Conclusion

opefully this helped you figure out how to do fat quarters and all other types of pre-cut fabrics. use.

Pre-cut fabrics can open many doors for sewers and quilters alike, so get out there and start sewing!

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ave you tried sewing with fat quarters?