Buying material for a quilt and not sure where
to start? Let us be your trusty guide!HOW TO
BUY FABRIC
The measurements by which fabric is
sold can seem a bit baffling when you
first hit the shops. Fat quarters, strip
rolls, charms... it’s a strange way to
talk about lengths of material. They’re
actually very useful names, as you can be
sure you’ll get squares or strips in specific
sizes, designed especially for quilting.
If you’re buying fabric off a roll
(or ‘bolt’) then you’ll usually buy it
by the yard (36in/91cm) or the metre
(39in/100cm). This is only the length of
the fabric you’re buying though – the
width depends on the width of the roll,
which can be a yard wide but is often
44in. Check the information on the end
of the cardboard tube around which the
fabric is wrapped or the details listed if
purchasing online to be sure how much
you’re buying. If you’d like the variety and
convenience of ready-cut patchwork
pieces, or don’t need a whole yard of a
particular fabric, then you can also buy
pre-cut pieces. Take a look at our guide
to the most common fabric sizes below.1
yard(^36 i
n)9 in5in5in
10in10in22in9 i
n18inWidth of fabric (44in)FABRIC SIZES BREAKDOWN04Charm
A charm is a 5in square, and a charm
pack usually contains samples of 20 to
30 differently patterned fabrics.Mini charm
Half the size of a charm, a mini charm
is a 2½in square. As with a charm pack,
a mini charm pack usually contains 20
to 30 fabrics.Layer cake
Produced by fabric company Moda,
a layer cake is a bundle of various 10in
print fabric squares.Fat quarter
A quarter of a yard of fabric made by
cutting half a yard in half across thelength to give a versatile piece of fabric
that measures 18in x 22in. This means you
can cut larger pieces than you would be
able to cut from a regular (or ‘long’)
quarter (9in x width of fabric).Fat eighth
Half of a ‘fat quarter’, this is a piece
of fabric measuring 9in x 18in.Long quarter
A quarter of a yard of fabric cut
from the end of a bolt, so it measures
9in x 44in.Turnover
Turnovers are 6in triangles that, when
sewn together, make 5in squares,
so they’re easy to use with charms.Honey bun
Like a skinny jelly roll, a honey bun is a
bundle of strips that are 1½in wide and
44in long.Jelly roll
A bundle of 20 to 40 strips of fabric that
each measure 2½in x 44in. Jelly rolls were
originally produced by fabric company
Moda, but other companies also make
similar bundles of fabrics with names
such as Bali Pops, Stone Strips, strip
rolls and Roll Ups.Dessert roll
Also known as a ‘fat roll’, this is a bundle
of 20 pre-cut fabric strips that are 5in
wide and as long as the width of the
fabric bolt (usually 44in).01 02 03