More on Precuts

What are precuts? Supplies? Fabric? Both?

Whatever they are I have a love-hate relationship with them. I love to look through charm packs and dream about the finished projects that will magically appear in my house made – from that very charm pack fabric – and change my life.

In reality, I really like the little bits of one whole line!

I have to admit that I sincerely dislike actually working with pre-cuts, but I tend to forget. I get an idea (did you see the Jelly Roll Race post?) and live another day to learn the same lesson.

The really big thing I don’t like is pinked edge. I like the idea of it, but what a &^%%$#ing mess! I open a Jelly Roll and there are bits of fuzz everywhere. EVERYWHERE!!!

The other thing I don’t like about pre-cuts are that they are not cut properly. Recently, I posted a tutorial about making 8 half square triangles at a time. I decided that I would get a neutral charm pack and use my Hoopla charm pack and just make a boatload of HSTs. Why not? I am sure a cool pattern will come to mind once I am rolling in HSTs.

I got a Kona White Charm pack and dutifully sat in front of the TV and marked all the White charms with an X. The pinked edges did not make this easy. I had to kind of guess where the marks went. I don’t like to guess. I like to be as exact as possible.

I went to line them up with the Hoopla charms and what a pain! They did not really line up very well, despite both being 5″ charm packs.

Folded charm
Folded charm

Folding a charm looked ok, except for the bit on the left. I finger pressed and thought I could line up the finger pressed line with the X on the neutral charm.

As an aside, I don’t really want to mark charms inexactly and then have to finger press a bunch as well. If I end up with that as my only alternative, I will just press the charms with the iron. It will be a lot easier on my hands.

Finger pressed fold
Finger pressed fold

As you can see from the photo (sorry about the quality of this one, it is the victim of my camera problems) the finger pressed line does not go corner to corner.

I don’t think there is anything I can do to force Moda to make their accuracy better. That is not a fight I want to fight today. Or tomorrow. I just have to deal with it in my own work.

Perhaps using pre-cuts as decorations is better than using it as fabric? Kind of an expensive decorating idea, though.

Author: Jaye

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.

8 thoughts on “More on Precuts”

  1. Jaye! Thanks – you’ve just made a very valid point in my presentation for scrap busting. I was suggesting several ways to use 5″ charm squares and this is a perfect example of why you have better luck with your own instead of those pinked squares. I will add this to my notes- Thanks

  2. I think I know why they use the pinked edges — it does inhibit fraying, which is a problem for something that gets handled a lot in the stores, as charm packs and jelly rolls do. But I agree, it is really annoying to have all that linty fuzz around. The bigger issue for me is that the precuts are often not cut on grain, and since the jelly rolls in particular are cut on the crosswise grain of the fabric, they can get very stretchy.

    I’m actually able to resist jelly rolls pretty well, but I am a sucker for charm packs and layer cakes. I assume, though, that what I’m really getting is a 4.75″ charm and a 9.75″ layer cake piece — that’s what usable to me after I trim off the pinked edges.

    1. I know you are right about the fraying, but it is still really annoying. I am also a sucker for the charm packs. I don’t think I have bought a layer cake yet, but can certainly cut my own!

  3. Tip I learned from my class this weekend with Kimberly Einmo – use a lint roller with the sticky paper on the top and bottom of your jelly rolls before unwrapping them. Eliminates like 80% of the fuzz! Worked perfectly.

  4. I enjoy working with jelly rolls, et al, especially because I feel they’re teaching me something about color and pattern, BUT I hate a pinked edge. Hate it.

    xofrances

    1. You are right. I like the variety and usually wouldn’t pick those fabrics to go together. BUT I also find that there don’t seem to be enough lights or darks for me. It could be me, but I think there are a lot of mediums. I am a huge proponent of learning what you can when the opportunity presents itself, so thanks for the reminder, Frances!

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