What is a good price for a fat quarter

[jjkaiser]

Decided to look beyond the charm packs today and was looking at FQ bundles. What jumped out at me: Prices vary alot. Number of pieces you get varies alot. What is the standard price and number of pieces in a FQ bundle?? I admit I was shopping at FQS.

[Caroline T.]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

There really isn't a standard # of pieces in a bundle. The # of pieces usually is determined by the # of fabrics in the collection. I've bought bundles that were as small as 5 pieces and as large as 36.

As for price, yes it's going to vary depending on the number of FQ pieces, so I usually do my math...
Total price of the bundle, divided by # of pieces in the bundle, times 4 = ??

For me the above calculated cost per yard, should not exceed the cost of buying a full yard of any one of the fabrics. It may sound cheap to some, but I'm not willing to pay extra (over the yardage price) for a fat quarter bundle. I figure, if I were ordering a 1/4 yard of each fabric, they wouldn't be charging me to cut it.

[beccavan1]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

I like the way your mind works Caroline! I would've never thought to break it down like that...genius!!!
Your math formula may save me a lot of $. Thanks
Bec

[JCY]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

Reg. price of FQs at my LQS is $2.50, which is the same price as yardage, which is $9.95/yd. However, I shop the "orphan corner" every time I'm in there. FQs are only $1.00. And discontinued bolts, or ends of bolts, will be 50% off, or $4.95/yd. I use FQs all the time for projects as well as practice sandwiches for FMQ. I love FQs. They are so versatile. You can cut larger pieces or smaller, or strips. I've used them for Rail Fence, Hour Glass, HSTs, & many other patterns. If you cut 2.5" strips the long way of the FQ, they can be pieced for binding.

[Caroline T.]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

Reg. price of FQs at my LQS is $2.50, which is the same price as yardage, which is $9.95/yd. However, I shop the "orphan corner" every time I'm in there. FQs are only $1.00. And discontinued bolts, or ends of bolts, will be 50% off, or $4.95/yd. I use FQs all the time for projects as well as practice sandwiches for FMQ. I love FQs. They are so versatile. You can cut larger pieces or smaller, or strips. I've used them for Rail Fence, Hour Glass, HSTs, & many other patterns. If you cut 2.5" strips the long way of the FQ, they can be pieced for binding.

I wish my LQS had an "orphan corner", the shop is wonderful, huge selection and pleasant staff, but they seem to think that the remnants and discontinued fabrics are gold and worth the original per yard price. I do find good deals on discontinued FQ bundles on Craftsy's website though.

[bubba]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

I wish my LQS had an "orphan corner", the shop is wonderful, huge selection and pleasant staff, but they seem to think that the remnants and discontinued fabrics are gold and worth the original per yard price. I do find good deals on discontinued FQ bundles on Craftsy's website though.

Is that the Quilt Barn? They used to have a huge area with sale fabrics....not fat quarters though.

[Caroline T.]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

Is that the Quilt Barn? They used to have a huge area with sale fabrics....not fat quarters though.

Yes, their sale fabrics are in an area about 10x12 foot, and their FQs are in various bins thru out the store, and I think the price of them is right around $3 each.

But I do have to say, they have the largest selection of Batiks that I've ever seen in one location!

[midnightline]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

Most LQS in my area charge around $2.75-$3.50 per fat quarter. Some of them have deals where if you buy 6 or 7, you get 1 free. Some places will cut fat quarters if you request it, while others will only sell you fat quarters that have already been cut. I once went to Keepsake Quilting, and they only take the end of bolts and turn them into fat quarters, so you won't find FQs of anything they have significant yardage of.

Every place is a little different.

Fat quarter bundles are usually made by the fabric manufacturer and usually contain all the fabrics in a collection. The exception that comes to mind is Timeless Treasures Tonga batiks. Their strip sets and squares will have 20 different fabrics, but their fat quarter sets are a subset of only 12 of the designs/colors. Some places, like Fat Quarter Shop, will take a collection and cut their own fat quarter bundles... sometimes those are the entire collection, sometimes they're a curated subset of the collection that look good together.

[PrettyCurious]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

I think the good ones avg $3.
Why Joanns thinks they can get $3 for theirs is beyond me.
I have a few, but I haven't done much with them yet. The ones I did use sure came in handy, though.

[Bubby]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

Another thing to consider is that often a shop won't have the full line in yardage and by buying the full FQ bundle you get the whole line. You need to consider several things....

[shirleyknot]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

I never could think of any reason I would need a whole line anyway.

[FaintlyArtistic]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

You can order FQ's of most fabrics through Connecting Threads. Just ordered a bunch of neutrals during their last sale.

[pcbatiks]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

If the price for 4 FQ's is less than a yard of fabric I might be interested.

[grammaterry]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

I think $1.50 is my Max on a fat quarter . Maybe $2 if I really like it! I sew enough that if I can't get a really good price I will just buy yardage or precuts. I like fat quarters just like jcy said but primarily because I get a good price. Connecting threads charges the same for precuts as yardage but they don't have m* s select. selection

[Kgrammiecaz]

Re: What is a good price for a fat quarter

My rule is 2 dollars or less a fat quarter. So I catch the sales when ai can. I love fat quarter bundles. I have picked up some super deals at FQS.