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Any Way You Slice It: Fat Quarters, Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes |
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If you are new to quilting, there are many new terms to learn about fabric. Many fabric companies are introducing fabric collections in precut format. What a boon to those of us sewing under a deadline! Here are a few common terms that you may hear at the cutting counter:
Charm Squares
These 5” squares are coloured co-ordinated fabrics from a designer collection packaged in twenty to forty squares. The number of squares depends on how many fabrics are in a collection
Colourway, colorway
This is the colour scheme in which a pattern or style of fabric is available. A collection might have relatively few patterns but several colourways (or vice versa).
Fat Quarters
Rectangular pieces cut approximately 20 x 22 ½” . Originally, this was a variation on a quarter of a yard. Rather than cutting a piece of fabric 9 x 45”, a fat quarter cut is made to the fold line, resulting in a larger (more useful!) piece 18 x 22 ½”. Notice the discrepancy in size? Depending on the shop, a fat quarter may by cut by the yard or by the metre (20 x 22 ½”).
Fat Eighths
Another useful cut, approximately 10 x 22 ½” .
Jelly Rolls
A Jelly Roll is a strip bundle of fabric rolled and tied up with a ribbon. Each Jelly Roll has a specific limited edition themed group of fabrics containing forty 2 ½” wide x approx. 42 in. long strips. Bali Pops are similar bundles cut from batiks.
Layer Cakes
A larger version of the charm squares, layer cakes are bundles of coordinating fabrics cut in 10” squares.
Twice the CharmTM
A cousin to the charm square, RJR Fabrics has developed a bundle of coordinating fabric strips cut 5 ½” x 20”. These bundles contain 20-35 different fabrics.
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