July 30, 2007

FQ rant

Forgive me this little rant, but I need to get this off my chest.  If you're a regular reader, I'm sure you know that I adore Moda fabrics.  I think they have the best designers and marketing around, and love the quality of their fabrics.



I was sadly disappointed this weekend when cutting one of their FQ stacks for a project I'm starting.  I needed to cut 3 strips per FQ, combined measurement of 17 inches.  Well there's 18 inches in a FQ so no problem, right?  WRONG.  I'd guess that 90% of the FQs ended up short - I was not able to squeeze even 17 inches from the piece.  I'm not finished cutting squares yet, so I hope that I will still have enough to finish the quilt, although I won't have the variety I would have had if all the FQs had yielded the 17 inches that I needed.



Now, I do prewash my fabric and that leads to a little fraying (although very little as I have a really gentle front-load Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer), but it certainly wasn't an inch worth.  And I can't imagine fabric would shrink that much.  So I'm disappointed, yes, but it won't prevent me from buying Moda fabric (or other FQs for that matter).  I know that it's unusal to make a pattern that uses the whole FQ, so this is just one of those "Murphy's Law" situations.  I'll make do...



11 comments:

  1. I feel your pain. I mostly make quilts from fat quarters and decided long ago that the most I could count on was 16 inches.

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  2. This happened to me with pre-cut Moda fats last year, when I was making a bento box for my folks for Xmas. It led to some VERY creative cutting on my part to get the strips I needed. I was extraordinarily annoyed. Still am, actually. i vowed never to buy their precuts again- if I want the FQs, my local store can cut them for me! Sorry this happened to you...

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  3. Sadly, they will shrink a ton sometimes! And then we continue to cause shrinkage when we press with steam. Sad but true.
    I usually only count on 16" and in yardage I only count on 40"

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  4. Oh no! That is bad news! With luck, maybe you can get more yardage of your favorite prints if you need to.

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  5. Dang! I'm really surprised - an inch sounds like too much for shrinkage and fraying. It may not get you anywhere, but maybe they need a little feedback? I've never actually measured a precut FQ...

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  6. Let this unfortunate experience for you, be a learning opportunity for us all. Measure our FQ's, I have never thought to do that, but I sure will in the future.
    Sorry it had to happen and I hope that you have enough and be able to work it out.

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  7. That's terrible! I feel your pain! I have had that problem when I've had fat quarters cut for me - I don't know what their idea of 18" is, but it sure isn't mine, nor the ruler's!
    I love Moda fabric, too, so I hope that was just an unfortunate glitch with that particular line.
    I hope you can make it work, Lisa!

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  8. I've had the same thing happen to me with LQS cut FQ's too. Sometimes the shrinkage is a ton -- though, I have to admit I don't pre-wash all that often. And a few times I'm pretty sure that it was an LQS cutting mistake. Of course, you could just buy 1/2 yards of everything and cut your own FQ's (tounge in cheek here -- really, I mean it).

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  9. FQs are a real boon for the quiting industry but actually a very expensive way to buy fabrics. Buying ½ yard and cutting your own is more economical. But, economics aside, if you buy a FQ you expect it to be a full size--and not to include 1-2" of selvedge with writing! Like most quilters, I am frustrated with the shrinking widths of fabric too.

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  10. That's one reason I don't buy FQ's as a rule...that and the fact that it makes you pay $10 a yard when they are $2.50 each which they are locally. I'll buy 1/3 yards if I need FQ's from the LQS.

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