What is a fat quarter?

I was blown away when a couple of people interested in purchasing fabrics from my store, asked me what a fat quarter was. Was I wrong to assume that everybody who knew anything about sewing knew that already? After examining my own sewing vocabulary, I found it was a little lacking too. Especially when it comes to quilting. I have decided that if you in the land of the living, school is always in session. So, I am sharing a few new terms that I have learned just recently which pertain  to quilting.

Before I do that, I must say that quilting is not my area of expertise. However, my children keep giving me quilting books and my collection is such that I feel guilty if it isn’t used.  I may be an expert before the year is out.

Here are my newly acquired quilting fabric definitions;

• Fat Quarter -  a piece of fabric approximately 18 X 22 inches. I say approximately because fat quarters are basically a yard of fabric cut into 4 equal pieces. I sell African fabrics in my ecrater store and many times authentic African fabrics are narrower than others. So when cut into fat quarters the size will be smaller.
• Jelly Roll – a jelly roll is a collection of 40 pieces of coordinating fabrics 2.5 inches wide by the width of the fabric. At first, I thought these are expensive. But when you realize the cutting and coordinating are done for you, they can be well worth it. If you are fabric coordinating challenged like myself, think of the frustration you will save.  If you need inspiration on what to do with them, there is a great book of jelly roll quilt patterns called “Jelly Roll Inspirations  ” by Pam and Nicky Lintott.
• Charm packs – are collections of 5 inch squares of fabric. It’s a popular size for quilters.
• Layer cakes – Layer Cakes are collections of 10″ x 10″ squares of fabric by Moda fabrics, maker of high quality cottons for quilting.  Layer Cakes are available by collection and usually include 42 pieces of fabric, though the numbers may vary.
• Honey buns – Honey Buns are collections of 1.5″ x 44″ strips of fabric. Made by Moda Fabrics, they are available in select collections and are especially helpful for the tiniest cuts in quilting. Honey Buns typically include 40 strips of fabric and are a narrower version of a Jelly Roll.

There are many wonderful books to be found on how to use these fabrics. Amazon.com is a great place to start looking. Signing off for now – in the mean time, keep sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting – it’s impossible to list them all.