Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Cutting Fat Eighths

We are cutting Fat Eighths today!! 



First let me start out with this - If you are cutting fabric for a swap like the one we're doing here, be sure you get extra fabric for cutting errors. I cut (in my opinion) pretty precisely, however when I got to the end of my fabric I was a bit to short. I had no idea what had happened. Did I miscalculate how much fabric I needed? Did I somehow cut it wrong? It seems that I was actually shorted just a bit on fabric. This makes me feel a tad bit better, but it's very annoying especially when you call the company and they now may be out of the fabric your using. So, that being said I will now buy more fabric than needed and I will measure it before I cut it when I'm doing a swap.  

What is a Fat Eighth:
It is one-eighth yard of fabric that is usually cut 9"X22" instead of the typical one-eighth yard cut 4.5"X42.


I'm sorry my directions confused some people earlier so here is an easier way of cutting. Press your fabric before cutting it.



Cut 10 9" Wide strips by Width Of Fabric (WOF).
Hold down your ruler firmly while cutting. It's easy for it to slip and move around while cutting. It also helps to have a very sharp blade in your rotary cutter. You should never have to saw your fabric.



Then cut them in half.  You should end up with 20 9"X22" Fat Eighths.


Fat Eighths are a great precut. They allow for bigger prints and are very versatile.

I hope this helps everyone make there Fatties!!
Have a great day!

~January~






10 comments:

  1. I'm a little confused....for several reasons. It seems like you've gone about this the really, really hard way.
    1. Ironing fabric distorts it, so you will not get an accurate cut, but Yes you would want to gently press out any big creases.
    2. Using the numbers on your cutting mat isn't a good idea, either. Your rulers are much more exact.
    3. Why not simply cut 9" strips, then further cut into 9" x 22" strips? I can't imagine very many doing the swap have a cutting mat anywhere near as large as yours.
    4. Is it vital that the 22" long side of the fat 1/8 run parallel to the selvage?
    I really don't mean to sound critical, I must be missing something here...

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  2. Nothing bugs me more than being shorted on fabric by a shop owner!

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  3. Think you will be short if I'm understanding your cutting process correctly. You can't get 5 - 9" strips out of 44" wide fabric. (9x5=45). There is no room for error, but you could get 20 fat eights out of 2.5 yards if you cut 10 - 9" strips WOF and then cut those in half. It would use all 2.5 yards.

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  4. I honestly had a hard time following the tutorial. Did you cut it so that you were trying to get 5 9" wide segments from the width of the fabric (selvage to selvage)? If so you would end up short unless the fabric were at least 45" wide.
    Cutting fat eighths is pretty simple, to cut 20 fat eights for the swap, just cut ten 9" wide strips (by WOF) and then cut them in half on the fold (unless the fold is not centered between the selvage). You should get 20 perfectly from 2.5 yards.

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