(upbeat music) - If you've ever been in a quilt store, most likely you've been
entranced by precuts. These nicely packaged gems,
tempt you from across the store, flaunting their colours,
tied up with bows and flair. However, as they begin
to pile up in your stash, you're wondering if they're as special, as you think they are. Here are 10 facts you need to
know, especially the last one. So, stick with me and I'll
show you how to do it. (upbeat music) Hi, I'm Karen Brown of
Just Get It Done Quilts. I give you tips, tricks and strategies to help you make the quilt
that you want to make. And if you like what you see, please hit that subscribe button. And I'd like to thank
today's sponsor Skillshare. I don't know about you, but I find fat quarter
bundles, quite mesmerising. Seriously, they are my kryptonite. But I rarely buy other sizes of precuts. So, back in February, I sent a question out in the
Socialverse, asking quilters, "What precuts do you buy and why?" And then I took them all for a test drive. And here are the top 10
things that you need to know before you hit that buy button. First, just a little bit of background. Fat quarters have been
with us for a while, but the first jelly roll,
only appeared back in 2006. People were making quilts out
of two and a half inch strips, but they had never actually packaged them together like that. And then came layer cakes. Moda was the first company, but the other manufacturers
followed soon after. Quilting cotton is about 44 inches wide. And when you cut a yard in half, you get a piece 18 inches tall and we call that a half yard cut. If we cut the half yard cut
in half, we get a fat quarter, which is 18 inches by approximately 22. And if we cut that in
half, you get a fat eighth, which is 22 by nine. These three types of
cuts are sold in bundles, with one piece from
each fabric in the line. Each piece includes part of the selvage and all the edges are cut
with a straight knife. And the price changes on the bundle, depending on the number of
pieces within the bundle. For jelly rolls and honey
buns, fabric is folded in half and stacked on top of each other. So, the selvages are one side
and the fold is on the other. Then, fabric is cut in strips
of two and a half inches for jelly rolls and one and
a half inches for honey buns. There are 40 strips in every roll, but half rolls are available,
so always check the quantity. Some, or all of the
fabrics, may be repeated, depending on how many
fabrics in the collection. All the edges are pinked. It includes two selvages
and the price is the same across manufacturer and fabric type. With layer cakes, charm
packs and mini charms, the fabric stacked again, but this time, from selvage to selvage. And then the fabric is die cut, into 10 inch squares for layer cakes, five inch squares for charms and two and a half inch
squares for mini charms. There are 40, or 42 squares,
depending on the manufacturer, but there's also half bundles. So be sure to check the quantity. Some, or all of the
fabrics, can be repeated, depending on how many fabrics
are in the collection. The edges are pinked. There are no selvages on these squares and the price is consistent across manufacturer and fabric type. There are other pre-packs
like hexagons, HST's, hearts, four inch squares and the Fat Quarter Shop has these things called jolly bars, but I'm not talking about those today. I'm just talking about the major ones. (upbeat music) There's definitely an ease in cutting. You don't have to manhandle yardage and try and fit it on your cutting board. It's all nice and simple and ready to go. And a lot of patterns that
are designed for precut, don't have many cuts in them either. And this is especially good for people with accessibility or dexterity issues. And for many people, cutting
is just not their thing. That's the part that they
like the least about quilting. So buying a precut is a fast and easy way. (upbeat music) They come all from the same fabric line. That means they coordinate. And for many quilters, one of the most stressful
part of quilting, is colour. And then there's the challenge of finding coordinating patterns. Buying a precut bundle,
gives you the confidence that everything will coordinate together with a unifying theme and colour harmony. (upbeat music) Precut bundles come in all
sorts of different price points. So, you can buy a fabric
line that you'd like that suits your budget. If you love a certain designer, or you love a certain fabric line, you can buy the whole line. You can add it to your stash, at the price that you
are comfortable with. But there's also a cost to this, but I'll get to that in the last point. (upbeat music) When we're looking at fabric,
we need a crystal ball. We are trying to visualise
that future quilt pattern, so we'll know how much fabric to buy. When you buy precuts, you
don't need to worry about that. There are so many patterns
out there for precuts. There are designers and companies, who have built their
business around precuts. Many are free. My very first quilt that I ever finished, was the jelly roll jam
from Fat Quarter Shop. I personally have four
videos about stash busters and I'll put a link to
that down in the notes. I also caution you with all these, the free and the not-free patterns, to read the instructions first. Some patterns don't use all
the precuts, or the bundle. Some have you slicing and dicing so much, you might as well buy yardage. So always check the pattern first. (upbeat music) One of the frustrating
parts of some precuts is this pinked edge. Different brands have
different sizes of pinking and you do not know where
the edge is supposed to be. It's supposed to be the inner
part of that pinked edge, but that means I can't
use my sewing ledge, which means I might
need to trim the square, which negates the whole purpose of buying a precut to begin with. Quilters also complain about the accuracy of this pinked edge, in some bundles. So, always check it before you buy. This pinked edge also
produces a lot of lint. So make sure you clean your
machine after every use. (upbeat music) A fabric bundle gives
you at least one piece of every fabric in the line. The layer cakes, the jelly rolls, and the other ones,
all give an assortment. And that depends on, one, how many pieces
are in the layer cake? And two, how many pieces are in the line? I bought the layer cake for this beautiful, multicoloured
farm fabric on the top, but I only got one of those. When I laid out the line, I found out the one that they
duplicated was the chicken wire. And I got a lot chicken wire. In this one, there's
10 fabrics in the line. Therefore, every single one of
them has different multiples. I've got five of this one, I've got four of this one, I've got three of this one. So, look through the bundle first, so you know, how much of
each fabric you're getting. (upbeat music) And the other disadvantage
is, you do not get to choose the slice of the pattern that you want. So, it's not really a
problem for, you know, little stripes and little dots, but it becomes a problem
with the hero prints. So for this one, this
Cathy Dougherty print, these beautiful magpies,
unfortunately I do not have one complete magpie frame that I can use. It would have been so much better, if this was just cut two inches larger. So you'll also have this
problem with the hero prints, when you move into layer
cakes and charm packs, because the main part of that
print, may be off centre. Now, before I get to the last three tips, let me tell you about Skillshare. Skillshare is an online learning community that offers membership with meaning. With so much to explore
and real projects to create with the support of fellow creatives, Skillshare empowers
you to learn that skill that you've always wanted to try. Skillshare has been really important to me in the last couple of months, with me learning Premier Pro
and all the tips and tricks and the inside scoop on how to do it. Skillshare is very affordable, especially when compared to
in-person classes and workshops. An annual subscription
is less than $10 a month. Members get unlimited access to thousands of inspiring classes,
with hands on projects and feedback from a community of millions. Most classes are under 60 minutes, with short lessons to fit any schedule. Skillshare classes include a combination of video lessons and a class project. Skillshare has classes to fit
your schedule and skill level. Whether you watch with
your morning coffee, or when your children are
doing their schoolwork, or just to do it to relax
at the end of the day. The first 500 people who
click the link below, will have access to two free
months of Skillshare Premium. Turn this time into an opportunity. (upbeat music) So many people complain about not being able to pre-wash their precuts. But honestly, why are you
wanting to wash precuts, anyways? Precuts are all about fast and easy. Prewashing just slows you down. And the resulting shrinkage,
will most likely mean, your fabric is too small to
use with free cut pattern. If you must wash your
precuts for health reasons, put them in a mesh bag
and lie them flat to dry. And then adjust your pattern accordingly. (upbeat music) When fabric is manufactured, the cross grain can often
be pulled out of shape. Now, having a perfect grain,
is much less of an issue when sewing quilts, than sewing clothes. Especially, it's not something
you need to worry about when you're a beginner, or you're making a fast and easy pattern. When it does become an issue, is when your edges begin to fray and then you get these thread tufts. And if they are disturbed too much, they will pull right back
into your seam allowance and make your block too small. A pattern can also be printed off grain. And again, most often this
is not going to be an issue with precuts, because your pieces are going to be pretty
small in your quilt. Check, if you've got some stripes, if you've got some
strong vertical elements, to be sure that they're within your own personal tolerance level. (upbeat music) Now, the last point is pricing. I went to two major online stores and these are some prices for
some current in stock items. If we look at the price in
terms of cost per square inch, this is the premium that
you're paying for a precut. And I checked my math several times. And when you look at the price
of precuts in solid colours, the premium is even greater. Now manufacturers have
additional costs for precuts. There's the cost of cutting,
there's the cost of folding, wrapping, packaging and wastage. And for layer cakes, charm
packs, and mini charms, you're going to have the
wastage of the selvages on the side and any extra little off cut. And you personally have your own concerns. Your skill level, your affordability, your accessibility and time constraints. So only you can say whether
this premium is worth it. I do recommend that you look
to your local quilt stores, who often will make
their own precut bundles and not charge a premium for it. (upbeat music) So, I have been on this journey, making this video, for
the past four months. Not only do I have the
challenge, all the time, trying to figure out how
much fabric should I buy, when I like a fabric? I now realise, I have
a challenge of knowing, what is the best form I
should buy my fabric in? Am I comparing apples to oranges? And then I'm wondering, if
you also have that problem? And should we be
developing a tool for that? So, I would really appreciate it, if you could take a couple of minutes and just fill in a survey for me. I've got a link to it down in the note. You can also find it on my website at justgetitdonequilts.com I just have a couple of questions. And if you fill it in,
I'd really appreciate it. And if I do actually go
through and develop a tool, you'll be the first to know about it. So, that's all I have for today. Stay tuned for next week, when I have a stash buster with precuts. If you liked this video,
please give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe. Hit that bell beside the subscribe button to be notified by YouTube
when I make new videos. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest at Just Get It Done Quilts. So take care and I'll see you next time. (upbeat music)
