Precut Fabric Ideas
Saturday, March 21st, 2009
Precuts are getting more and more attention as those pretty Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, Charm Packs, Sweet Boxes and Honeybuns catch our eyes. Wish recently received new orders of Bali Pops, Neptune, and Fresh pre-cuts. Most quilters recognize the convenience of the pre-cuts but some wonder what to do with them. So we are all searching for the great patterns that are labeled for those beautiful Jelly Rolls, Charm Packs, and Layer Cakes. Moda has several “cheat sheets” that can show you some common ways to cut Layer Cakes and Charm Packs. They also are very good about offering free quilt patterns for their various fabric lines. Don’t feel like you have to be limited to that fabric line. There is nothing to say that you can’t use a different line.
Moda’s Basic Measurements sheet gives estimates on the size of quilt based on the number of Layer Cakes, Jelly Rolls, or Charm packs.
Loose Change by Claudia Plett and Lee Ann Weaver has some great patterns that are adapted to Charm Packs (referred to as nickels in the book), Layer Cakes (referred to as dimes), and Fat Quarters. Some can be completed with Jelly Rolls too. It’s a fun book. More Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth has twenty patterns for quilts made with Charm Packs.
Today, I’ve been playing with the Neptune and Fresh fabric lines in EQ6. Moda is very good about providing down loadable image files that can be imported into EQ5 and EQ6. You can find their latest swatch samples here. I like to play with new fabric lines in EQ because it helps me get a better feel for the different values and texures in the line.
I tried to pick blocks that would be pre-cut freindly. Here’s a selection of some patterns I explored.
Moda has also provided a braided easter basket project sheet. The sample is done in Swank and stitched by hand. I’m thinking you could acheive a similiar look by machine using the Bali Bowl pattern. This would be a great project for the sweet Honeybuns Cathy has in the shop now. Check out Moda’s Bakeshop for more cool projects with pre-cuts.
So do you EQ? and what are your favorite precut friendly patterns/projects?
