DK Quilt Guild: A place for quilters, to gather, share ideas, projects, and to make the world a better place, one quilt at a time. Join us and share your thoughts, projects, questions, and tips. Quilters here are at many different levels of skill. Beginners and non-quilters are welcome, too!
Limitations of time and confidence sidetrack many of us. Today I'll look at ways to save time and bolster confidence.
Pre-cuts are time savers, they enhance accuracy since they are already cut and it takes the brain work out of choosing color lines. Each pre-cut package contains pieces from an specific designer line.
There are several types of pre-cuts, the three that I most often use are:
Jelly Rolls: 2.5" wide strips of every quilting fabric in a designer's complete line, there are usually 40 to 42 strips in each roll.
|
Layer Cakes: Contain10" squares of every quilting fabric in a designer's complete line. There are usually 40 squares in each cake.
|
Charm Packs, also called Charm Squares: 5" contain 5" squares of every quilting fabric in a designer's complete line.
|
Most of my precuts I order from
Missouri Quilt Company, but
Fabric.com and others sell them, too. That is just my personal preference, not an endorsement.
When they arrive there are times I like to just admire the packs, the design, the color way, and then there are the ones that are so awesome I cannot wait to open the pack and get to work, that's where the quick and easy instructional resources have come in handy.
Craftsy is a site that provides instructional videos from quilting to cake decorating. It's worth a look.
Their teaching platform is well designed, you are able to interact with the instructors and other students if you choose. There are no time limits, go as fast or slow as you like. Once you've signed up there is no deadline for access to that class.
Quilting Quickly is the most helpful in various ways to use pre-cuts.
Another resource I've used in the quilts I show below is Missouri Quilt Company on YouTube, free of charge.
Here are a few blocks from one I did.
|
d
Disappearing Nine-Patch using two Charm Packs.
|
Books, still one of best instructors, have provided some fun and simple quilt patterns.
"More Layer Cake, Jelly Roll, & Charm Quilts"is one I've utilized a lot.
Here is a a Tumblrs Quilt, found on page 50, that I did a few months ago.
|
Here is a video that utilizes a Jelly Roll. I used this one to make a quilt for one of my daughters, but I cannot find my photo of it too include here. This pattern is too fun to not include just because I don't have the photo.
While I will never give up the mat and rotary cutter, these pre-cuts have provided a lot of joy for folks when I wanted a quick gift, or those times I just felt like being creative without all the usual steps I'd go through to piece a quilt top together.
I hope you can find some helpful things from today's diary.
One thing I learned: Get a quilt hanger for photos. :-)
Happy Quilting.