Precut Quilting Fabrics Sizes, Names, and Average Cost

Originally posted 6/12/2016
Last Updated 7/30/2022

We are so blessed to be quilting during this time. My grandma drew the shapes she needed on cardboard and then traced those shapes onto the fabric and finally cut them out with scissors. My mom had premade templates she could trace around before I cut the shapes out and moved into rotary cutters and limited rulers. I started with a few more rulers but today I don’t have to cut fabric if I don’t want to cut it. There are lots of precut quilting fabrics on the market today but it can get overwhelming with all of the various names.
What size is a layer cake? What size is a fat quarter? Those and more questions answered about precut quilting fabrics.

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing items from the links costs nothing more and puts a few pennies in the fabric budget.

Precut Quilting Fabrics Sizes, Names, and Average Cost
You will pay more per yard for precut fabrics. There is more labor involved and more packing for precut bundles than there is for wrapping fabric onto a bolt. On the other side of that coin though is you usually get the entire line or almost the entire line of fabrics in a precut bundle and you will have little to no cutting needed before you start sewing. A recent trend is quilt shops making their own bundles of fabric that work with a set of patterns and when you purchase the fabric bundle you get to pick a free pattern. While this usually doesn’t take the cutting out of the equation if you struggle with matching fabrics with a pattern these kinds of bundles can be a huge help.
Precut Quilting Fabric Sizes
I have listed all of the currently available precut fabrics that I have found. If you are a scrappy quilter fat packs are a great way to build variety into your scrap bins.
Fat Sixth is a piece of fabric 12 inches by 22 inches. These are typically sold in bundles.
Fat Eighth is a piece of fabric 9 inches by 22 inches. I have seen these sold both in bundles and individually.
Fat Quarter is a piece of 18 inches by 22 inches. Fat quarters are sold both individually and in bundles.
Precut strips are 2.5 inches by the width of the fabric or 1.5 inches by the width of the fabric. They come in a variety of names that will be covered below.
Precut squares typically come in three sizes, 2.5-inch squares, 5-inch squares, and 10-inch squares.
Precut Quilt Fabric Names
The fat sizes are going to be the same no matter where you buy them or who made the fabric. Those are standard cuts that have been sold for years. The other precut sizes will have a variety of names due to trademarks in the quilt industry. Some shops have also started making their own sizes of precuts so you might have seen a bundle of precut quilt fabric in a different size or name than that listed below. I don’t have the time to check every quilt shop online so I used Fat Quarter Shop. I’ve listed the name, number of pieces of fabric, and length on the fabric strips if it was provided by the manufacturer.
1.5-inch fabric strips
Moda – Honey Bun 40 strips 1.5 inches by 44 inches
2.5-inch fabric strips
Andover Fabrics – 2.5″strips, amount varies but 40 seems to be the most common amount, length is 42″
Benartex Fabrics – 2.5″ strips, 40 strips 42″ in length
Free Spirit Fabrics – Design roll, 40 strips, 42″ in length
Hoffman Fabrics – Bali Pop or Jingle Pop, 40 strips, 42″ in length
Maywood Studio – 2.5″ strips, 40 strips, 42″ in length
Moda – Jelly Rolls, 40 strips, 42″ in length and Junior Jelly Rolls, 20 strips, 42″ in length
QT Fabrics – 2.5″ strips, 42 strips, 42″ in length and Strippies, 20 strips, 42″ in length
Riley Blake – Rolie Polie, 40 strips, 42″ in length
Robert Kaufman – Roll Ups, 40 strips, 42″ in length
Ruby Star Society – Jelly Rolls, 40 strips, 42″ in length
Timeless Treasures – Treat Strips, 20 or 40 strips, 42″ in length
2.5-inch squares
All manufactures – Mini Charm Pack, 42 squares
5-inch squares
Andover Fabrics – 5″ squares, 42 squares
Free Spirit Fabrics – Charm Pack, 42 squares
Maywood Studio – Charm Pack, 42 squares
Moda – Charm Pack 42 squares
Riley Blake – 5″ stacker, 42 squares
Robert Kaufman – Charm Pack, 42 squares
Ruby Star Society – Charm Pack, 42 squares
Timeless Treasures – Treat Mini, 40 or 42 squares
10-inch squares
Andover Fabrics – 10″ squares, 42 squares
Art Gallery Fabrics – 10″ squares, 42 squares
Free Spirit Fabrics – 10″ squares, 42 squares
Marcus Fabrics – 10″ squares, 42 squares
Maywood Studio – 10″ squares, 42 squares
Moda – Layer Cake, 42 squares
Riley Blake – 10″ stacker, 42 squares
Robert Kaufman – 10″ squares, 42 squares
Ruby Star Society – Layer Cake, 42 squares
Timeless Treasures – Shortcake, 20 or 42 squares
Pre-cut Quilt Fabric Costs Per Yard
To figure the cost per yard for precuts I did an average price for each size and compared that to the average cost per yard for fabrics. Yardage prices vary between manufacture and if it’s a print or a solid so I did about 8 different fabrics for each of the manufactures that I linked to above. I used Fat Quarter Shop for the prices since that’s who I linked to above and we all have access to shop that store. Fabric, from the brands above, averages $12.64 per yard.

Fat Eighths – FQS sells their fat eighths in bundles. The average cost per fat eighth is $1.88. You can get 8 fat eights per yard of fabric. The average cost per yard for fat eights is $15.04.
Fat Quarters – Fat quarters are sold as bundles at FQS as well. The average cost per fat quarter is $3.32 and you get 4 fat quarters per yard of fabric. The average cost per yard for fat quarters is $13.28
1.5″ strip rolls – You get 1.66 yards of fabric in the honeybun. The average cost per honeybun is $31.58 making the average cost per yard is $19.02.
2.5″ strip rolls – You get 2.77 yards of fabric in each roll. The average cost for a 2.5″ strip roll is $40.98 making the average cost per yard $23.15.
2.5″ squares – You get 0.18 yards of fabric or 2.62 strips width of fabric. The average cost of the 2.5″ square packs is $4.28 making the average cost per yard $23.75
5″ square packs – You get 0.70 yards of fabric. The average cost of the 5″ square packs is $11.51 making the average cost per yard $16.44.
10″ square packs – You get 3 yards of fabric in these packs. The average cost of the 10″ square packs is $40.73 making the average cost per yard $13.58
What You Can Make with Precut Quilting Fabrics
There are tons of patterns available for precut quilt fabrics. Missouri Star made their name in the quilt world doing quilts with precut fabrics. Fat Quarter Shop is named after a common precut size of fabric. C&T publish has 22 quilt books that use precut fabrics. If you want to know some common sizes you can get out of fat cuts I have a PDF file that has fat sixth, fat eight, and fat quarter cut guides as a gift for signing up to our newsletter.

My final Thoughts on Precut Quilting Fabrics
Precut fabrics are more costly than buying quilt fabric by the yard but only you can decide if that price increase is worth it or not. Buying fabric precut is a time saver and your time is valuable but how valuable it is is an individual decision. I love fat quarters because a lot of times I only need a little bit of fabric for a specific block and I won’t have a ton of leftover fabric. On the other hand if I used the 2.5″ square packs to make my postage stamp quilt would have cost me $111.28 and cutting the fabric myself from yardage would have been $59.

Outside of costs there is another huge plus for precut fabrics for quilters and that is not having to cut the fabric. There are many quilters who have lost their ability to cut fabric, due to age or due to injury and being able to buy fabric already cut into strips or squares means they can make quilts once again. I don’t think you can put a price tag on that.

What size is a fat quarter? How much more is a layer cake than yardage? Those questions and more answered today!