what to buy?

[Davidsgirl08]

I buy a lot of precuts for the variety. I don't have the luxury of a quilt shop here. One of my favorite online places is crazy quilt girl fabric shop. She sells mainly moda precuts and its the cheapest I've found.... Well unless its the DD. I buy from here but if I can't find yardage here I shop at river city quilts.

[KathieB]

I usually buy yardage but have bought the DD more often than I should. I have a friend who cuts a 2½" strip from all yardage she brings home. She then can make her own jelly rolls an/or great scrap quilts.

I learned to quilt making templates and adding the seam allowance to them. I did not like that part at all! My youngest sister introduced to rotary cutting so I don't really mind cutting yardage

[Granny Judy]

What I learned from my Grandmother: Born 1899 D: 1968. She hand sewed many quilts thru her life..and I followed her around during my Summer Vacation begging her to let me Sew Too.

1. Save all those cotton dresses, shirts and skirts. Cut the largest pieces from them that you can. Save all the buttons and zippers from each item. (I lost alot of my cotton skirts at Grammy's)
2. Only Buy fabric from the bolt... Cotton is the best, but a little blend of poly doesn't hurt. 1/2 yard to 1 yard at a time. Sale bins have the perfect amounts for the money!! So Check out the Clearance Box! (we knew how to get out of the dog house with Grammy!!)
3. Cut out ONE block's fabric requiments and make a TEST block. (these can become a Sampler Quilt when you get enough) Alot of my blocks were in her Sampler.
4. Keep your Templates away from Children's greasey hands!! Don't Ask
5. Large Flat Sheets make the best (budget wise) backings.. She always wanted Flat Sheets for her Birthday and Christmas!!! And we thought she was silly!
6. Never...ever let anyone use your SCISSORS.. My worst experience with Grammy was over her scissors..



What I'm trying to tell you is that you can and should feel free to USE whatever Cloth you want, find, make, snitch or buy in your quilting. It is a personal decision... so have fun with it as you consider your budget limitations.

[Kapree]

What I learned from my Grandmother: Born 1899 D: 1968. She hand sewed many quilts thru her life..and I followed her around during my Summer Vacation begging her to let me Sew Too.

1. Save all those cotton dresses, shirts and skirts. Cut the largest pieces from them that you can. Save all the buttons and zippers from each item. (I lost alot of my cotton skirts at Grammy's)
2. Only Buy fabric from the bolt... Cotton is the best, but a little blend of poly doesn't hurt. 1/2 yard to 1 yard at a time. Sale bins have the perfect amounts for the money!! So Check out the Clearance Box! (we knew how to get out of the dog house with Grammy!!)
3. Cut out ONE block's fabric requiments and make a TEST block. (these can become a Sampler Quilt when you get enough) Alot of my blocks were in her Sampler.
4. Keep your Templates away from Children's greasey hands!! Don't Ask
5. Large Flat Sheets make the best (budget wise) backings.. She always wanted Flat Sheets for her Birthday and Christmas!!! And we thought she was silly!
6. Never...ever let anyone use your SCISSORS.. My worst experience with Grammy was over her scissors..



What I'm trying to tell you is that you can and should feel free to USE whatever Cloth you want, find, make, snitch or buy in your quilting. It is a personal decision... so have fun with it as you consider your budget limitations.

wow thanks these are some awesome rules to live buy...I just talked to my mom and she said she has a bunch of old clothes I can go through so now I'm really curious on what she has that I can create with....but what do you mean by a test block...or a sampler quilt?

[madampolo]

I mostly use yardage, especially if I am making a quilt with a limited number of colors in it. I do use some precuts. They are great because you have a lot of different fabrics that go together. I think MSQC has the largest selection of precuts.

[HandsomeRyan]

Also- Cutting yardage precisely with scissors = not easy. Cutting yardage precisely with a rotary cutter, ruler, and cutting mat = not terribly difficult.

[yeeehawterri]

I had to crack up at this...had a similar discussion with my son in law the other night when he made an attempt to cut some cardboard with my fabric scissors. He saw the error of his ways...ha!