Quilt Along Day 1: Cutting Fabric

Join me as I make a quilt top from start to finish. Today’s topic is fabric preparation, and one of the essential steps is cutting fabric accurately.

Most of my patterns follow the same format using either jelly roll (2.5″ raw) or honey bun (1.5″) strips. Check the title of the pattern you are following to confirm what width to cut your strips into. For this quilt top, I will use yardage cut down to 2.5″ strips. If you want to do it the easiest possible way, you can buy a jelly roll instead. The total number of strips needed in each color is listed on the pattern.

First, you need to get very comfortable with your ironing board and iron. I personally don’t prewash my fabrics, but you are more than welcome to.

I typically (but not always :D) buy fabric specifically for a quilt, so I will iron the entire cut of fabric at once, using Best Press spray and my iron on as high as it will go. For really tough wrinkles, I will also turn the steam on.

Once it’s ironed out, I will square up the fabric, Squaring up fabric that you’ve cut from the bolt ensures that your fabric is aligned correctly and that the edges are straight. Here’s how to square it up:

Materials Needed:

• Cutting mat
• Rotary cutter
• Quilting ruler (ideally a large square ruler, but I use a 24″ x 6″ rectangular one)
• Iron (optional for pressing fabric)

Steps to Square Up Fabric:

1. Prepare the Fabric:
   • Unfold your fabric and press it to remove any wrinkles. This will give you an accurate cut.
   • Fold the fabric in half, selvedge to selvedge (the finished edges). Make sure the selvedges are even but don’t worry if the raw edges aren’t even yet.
2. Align the Fold:
   • Lay your fabric on a cutting mat, with the fold at the bottom. The fold should be smooth and flat. If it bubbles or twists, adjust the selvedges until the fold lies flat, which indicates the fabric is on the grain.
3. Place the Ruler:
   • Using a large quilting ruler, line up the folded edge of the fabric with one of the horizontal grid lines on your cutting mat.
   • Place the ruler vertically along the edge of the fabric where the cut is uneven or jagged, and make sure it’s perpendicular to the folded edge. You may need to trim a small amount to straighten this side.
4. Trim the Edge:
   • Hold the ruler in place and use a rotary cutter to trim the uneven edge of the fabric. This creates a perfectly straight edge perpendicular to the fold.

Cutting Strips

I use that square side and the fold side as reference points for my ruler to begin cutting strips. For this pattern, it requires 2.5″ strips, so I cut as many as I can out of this piece of fabric using the rotary cutter and ruler. I also have a Sissix Big Shot I will use if I don’t care about wasting fabric because it makes the process MUCH easier for my carpal tunnel hands (yay pregnancy!).

Because quilts are an art form, I like to lay the fabric strips out as I cut them so I can start fiddling with the order of the prints in my quilt. I do this by pinning it to my design wall, but I’ve been known to use the dining room table, the back of a chair, really any surface where I can see the fabric together.

That’s it! I repeat this process for all the fabric that is in strips before moving on to the cutting and pinning of individual rows.

Check out the next Quilt Along post, Quilt Along Day 2: Piecing Rows.