Tuesday, June 14, 2011

New Quilter/Old Quilter/ Fat Quarter Confusion???

I have to admit when I first started quilting I was pretty confused myself about all the lingo we quilters toss about and think the newbies know or should know just because they bought some fabric and a quilting magazine. I would hit up my fabric store or quilt store and speak like a pro...'I need a fat quarter of each of these fabrics, but I didn't know what it was. So, for some of you who may still be in the dark, let me explain!

A regular quarter yard is 9" by the width of your fabric and that is typically 44". Makes sense right because when you split 36" into 4 pieces you get 9".

A fat quarter is 18" x 22" and can be a bit wider if your fabric is wider than 44".
A fat eighth is 11" x 18".

A fat quarter bundle is a bundle of fat quarters all from the same fabric line such as the Luminescence line from Patrick Lose.

From a fat quarter, one can usually get a lot of different things such as 99 2" squares and much more.

What about those delicious jelly rolls? They are about 3 1/2 yards of fabric strips cut to 2 1/2" x 42" and rolled up when purchased hence the term 'jelly roll.'

Layer cake is 42 10" x 10" squares all from the same fabric line.

**Many of these terms come from the fabric company MODA and you can find their awesome lines, terms and quilting recipes at: www.modabakeshop.com**

Be careful how you use and intermingle your terms. A Bali Pop is similar to a Jelly Roll, however a Bali Pop is 40 2 1/2" strips that are 44" and understand these are not Moda fabrics but Hoffman fabrics.
Hoffman fabrics specialize in Batiks and hand painted fabric.

I know it can be confusing when you first start out, but if you check back here on occasion, I will do my best to clear up the confusion.

You can also check out the following sites that have tons of information for old and new quilters alike:
  1. Equilters.com
  2. How to Quilt
  3. Goodbye City Life
And one of the best I have found is: Quiltbug.com

Take a look at each of these sites and you will learn so much information, your head will go squishy for awhile. Then maybe not, my family thinks my head got squishy when I started quilting and I am pretty sure they believe it has remained that way.

Anything I can do to help, just leave me a comment or drop me an Email!

**I did not receive any promotional items or payment for my comments on any of the fabric lines or web-sites, these opinions are my own and as such I am delighted to share them with others!



5 comments:

Kim-A Creative Spirit said...

All those terms are REALLY confusing.... hahahah I have some fat quarters, a layer cake, a cinnamon bun, and and and.... GEESH I just need to use them to make and FINISH the two quilts....

Amy said...

You know I am still confused but thank you for trying to un-confuse me, lol!

Quiltingranny said...

It takes awhile, just buy fabric by the yard and you can't go wrong!

aspiritofsimplicity said...

that is such helpful information. I will be an empty nester in September and I am thinking of starting up quilting again.

Love Of Quilts said...

I just buy by the yard...cheaper that way too. Trish