Quilt Fabric Needed! Organizing, Buying and Cutting Tips

Yesterday was a busy day in my studio. I went from stacks of fabric everywhere to nice organized tubs. It got me thinking about how to build a stash, either by shopping for it or organizing what you have. Also, how to keep it organized. Many times I have headed to the quilt shop and returned home with fabric I already had. Oops! Organization keeps me from doing that… most times. So let’s have some fun with this.

Organization First

Before starting a project and possibly heading to the quilt shop, my first tip is to organize what you have. If you don’t know what you have, like I said earlier you are likely to buy the same fabric.

Here’s some of my mess to organization I took care of yesterday!

These are just my colorful strips that I accumulate when cutting out various projects. I also have bins to store larger cuts of fabric and keep them organized. They look like this:

To get to this type of organization, I came up with a system. As a scrap quilter, I don’t often use large cuts of fabric, except for backing and backgrounds. Sometimes, even my block backgrounds are scrappy. So here’s my way to get a color print fabric into my different bins.

This example starts with a 1 yard cut of fabric that I cut into two half yard pieces:

I then fold up one of the half yards to store in one of my half yard bins. What do I do with the other half yard?  I cut it along the fold as shown in the photo below to create two fat quarters (18 x 22″). I fold up one of those fat quarters and store it in a fat quarter bin.

With that other fat quarter, I cut it in half as shown below to make two 9 x 22″ pieces – fat eighths. I roll one of them, as shown on the right, for easier storage.

Now, I can either roll up the other fat eighth and have two in the same color print, or I can cut up the remaining fat eighth into 2 1/2″ and 1 1/2″ strips. You can get two of each width from a fat eight. Then I store those in one of my strip containers for future use.

I have a stash cutting video here if you’d like to see this process in action:

 

Buying Fabric

So now you’ve been through your stash and organized it. You’ve determined you need to go shopping. Here’s some tips for you for shopping.

Tip#1: This seems to be an obvious step, but I recommend bringing the pattern with you to the shop not just a list of fabrics and amounts needed. Having a photo of the actual quilt to refer to will remind you where specific fabrics appear so you can decide which is best for your quilt.

Keep in mind, you most likely will not find the exact fabrics that are shown on the pattern sample, unless the quilt shop has kitted the pattern with them. So you may have to find fabrics that are similar. This is where the quilt shop employees can come in handy!

Tip #2: Buy more fabric than is stated on the pattern. Most patterns will give you fabric amounts that allow for pre-washing and cutting errors. I know I add in some extra when I write my patterns for just that reason. But if you are not sure that is the case with a designer’s pattern, add a little extra for your comfort. You may end up with a little left over, but you can then start your strip collection for your next scrap quilt!

Here are the reasons why you should have extra:

• When squaring up the fabric, it’s possible to lose some of the length if the fabric was wound a bit wonky onto the bolt.
•  If you like to pre-wash your the fabric, there could be shrinkage.
•  Cutting errors. We all have them!
• Finally, if you run out of that fabric, it might be sold out when you go looking for it and will not be re-stocked.

Tip #3: If you are purchasing fat quarters or fat eighths for your project, be sure to check them out and make sure you choose fats with the most usable fabric. As you know, fabric has selvages, the finished edges of the fabric:

As you can see, the blue fat has a wider selvage than the red one. That cuts into your usable width of fabric on that fat.

Cutting Fabric

Tip #1: Read the pattern completely through to find all the cutting instructions for each of the fabrics. Most patterns have all the cutting instructions on the first few pages, but some patterns may have them spread out into different sections of the pattern.

I recommend cutting out the entire project before you begin sewing so you know right away if you have to make a trip back to the quilt shop. If you wait too long, that fabric you need may sell out. I store projects cut and ready to sew in individual tubs like this:

You can put the pattern instructions right in that bin so when you open it up, you’re ready to go!

Tip #2: Cut the largest pieces required from a piece of fabric and work your way down to the smallest. If the pattern instructs you to cut pieces in a wide variety of sizes from a piece of fabric, start by cutting a strip the width of the largest piece and then cut the amount of pieces needed from that strip. Then, if there is any amount of that strip left, cut it down to the next width to cut the next largest pieces and so on.

Above is an example of one of my patterns. From one of the black prints, I would cut a 4 7/8″ strip first and cut the six squares from that. Then if there is any bit of that strip left, I would cut it down to 2 1/2″ wide and start cutting the 24 squares needed. And so on.

Tip #3: Iron your fabric before cutting and squaring it up. Ironing your fabric will remove all the creases that formed as it was wound on the bolt. The most prominent crease being where the fold is. If you do not iron the fabric, a crease can cause your rotary cutter to skip creating strips or pieces that are distorted.

Tip #4: Always square up your fabric. When fabric is wound onto the bolt it can also distort the even folding. If you don’t square it up before cutting, you can end up with distorted strips like the one on the left below. Notice how that one bows away from the line on the cutting mat. 

Here’s a link to my squaring up mini video tutorial for a refresher.

That’s it for this week. I hope you’ve learned something new or have had a refresher of skills from this post. 

Happy Quilting!
Deanne