Let’s Make a Quilt Top with Precuts!

Alright, my friends! I’ve posted a lot of informational posts, but let’s have some fun! I have a quick and easy quilt pattern for you today. You got a preview of it in my last post, but here it is again:

Example of 42-block Quilt top using Joy fabric collection by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts.

This is a quilt with simple squares as the blocks, with sashing and cornerstones between and around the border. We’re going to construct this with my favorite things: precuts!

What are precuts, you ask me? Precuts are only the best thing to ever happen to quilt fabric! They’re like the sliced bread of quilt fabric – literally!

See, quilt fabric is designed by people, and they don’t really just design one fabric at a time. They create collections, or fabric lines. Usually, quilt shops pick and choose the fabrics from the line that they want to carry, and they order bolts of each particular fabric. They don’t usually order the entire collection, and even if they did, the variety of cuts you can get at your quilt shop is fairly limited.

But with precuts, you can get the entire collection in one small bundle. Precuts are bundles of an entire collection or fabric line, cut and packaged by the manufacturer at the factory. So instead of ordering a bunch of bolts of fabric, and then having to hand cut bundles, the shop can order the precut bundles and offer them to you. There is so much to love about precuts. You can get the whole line in reasonable sized pieces and at reasonable prices. And because precuts come in industry-standard sizes, we can plan and design quilts using precut fabric sizes. Such as this quilt.

The only real trick is that different precut bundles are called different things by different manufacturers, so it can be a bit of a challenge to figure out what is what. Here’s a brief rundown of what the standard cut sizes are and what they might be called:

Fat Quarters (aka FQs)- These are quarter yards of fabric, except that instead of being 9 inches by the width of the fabric (otherwise known as WOF), the fabric is 18 inches long by half the width of the fabric. Fat quarters can be super useful for a variety of quilt patterns, as they allow for larger cuts of fabric. With a traditional quarter yard, the largest square you could cut is 9 inches (and probably slightly smaller if the cut isn’t precise!). With a fat quarter, you could get up to an 18 inch square (or slightly smaller, again, if the cut isn’t precise). Most, if not all, manufacturers offer precut Fat Quarter Bundles in many of their fabric collections. They almost always consist of one Fat Quarter of each of the fabrics in a collection, so FQ bundles differ in the number of pieces in the bundle. Find these at your local quilt shop, or at online sellers.
Fat Eighths (aka F8s)- These are 1/8 yards of fabric. Much like with FQs, F8s are not 4-1/2 inches long by the WOF – that would be a super long and skinny piece of fabric, and pretty limiting in the pieces you could cut for your quilt. Instead, they are 9 inches long by 1/2 the WOF. The reason for F8s is similar to that for FQs. You have more options for larger cuts for your quilt pattern with more of a block of fabric rather than a skinny strip. Some manufacturers offer precut Fat Eighths bundles, but not all. When offered, as with FQ bundles, F8 bundles almost always include exactly one F8 cut from each fabric in the collection, so the number of cuts of fabric in the bundle varies from collection to collection.
10-inch squares (aka Layer Cakes, 10 Squares, 10-inch Stackers, Sundaes, etc) – these are my personal favorite precut bundles. Each square is 10 inches by 10 inches, and they come in either 42- or 40-piece bundles, depending on the manufacturer. As you can see, there are many names that the various manufacturers have come up with to name their 10-inch square precut bundles, but they all measure 10 inches to a side. Because many fabric collections do not include exactly 40 or 42 fabrics, this usually means that some, if not all, fabrics in the collection will be repeated at least once in the bundle. Some manufacturers do offer 20- or 21-piece bundles, sometimes called Junior Layer Cakes.
2-1/2-inch strips (aka Jelly Rolls, Double Scoops, 2.5-inch Design Rolls, Roll Ups, etc) – These are long, skinny strips of fabric, 2-1/2 inches wide by WOF. They are very popular with quilters. In fact, there’s a national Jelly Roll Day, and it’s not uncommon for Jelly Roll races to be a thing for quilt guilds or retreats to do for fun. As with Layer Cakes, Jelly Rolls usually contain either 40 or 42 pieces of fabric, depending on the manufacturer, and frequently include duplicates of some or all of the fabrics in the collection. Some manufacturers do offer 2-1/2-strip bundles with only half the number of strips in them, sometimes called Junior Jelly Rolls or Half Rolls, depending on the manufacturer.
1-1/2-inch strips (aka Skinny Strips, Honey Buns, etc) – this is very similar to the 2-1/2-inch strips, except the strips of fabric are an inch narrower. Not all manufacturers offer them, and those that do usually offer a limited variety of them. Where a manufacturer may offer all of their collections as Jelly Rolls, they may only offer a few of them as Honey Buns. These are FANTASTIC as sashing in a quilt.
5-inch squares (aka Charm Packs, Charm Squares, Single Scoops, etc) – These 5-inch by 5-inch squares of fabric are wonderfully versatile fun to use. I love to make a tote bag out of a charm pack – it’s fun and always comes out looking amazing! Keep your eyes on future posts for a pattern for this, but for now, the important information is that they’re 5-inch squares, and as with Ten Squares and Roll Ups, they usually come in packs of 40 or 42 fabrics, so some fabrics will be repeated in the bundle.
2-1/2-inch squares (aka Mini Charms) – this little bundle of sweetness is a real treat! It’s a tiny little bundle and is a great way to get a feel for what a collection actually looks like in real life, without having to spend much money at all. They are offered by only a few manufacturers, and like with 1-1/2-inch strips, are offered in limited variety.

Now for the Fun Part – the Pattern!

Okay, now that we’ve got all that wordiness out of the way, let’s get down to what’s really the fun stuff – making something! I’m so excited to offer this pattern. The first pattern I’ve ever really put out there into the world. Again, we’re making this quilt (please note that the scales are slightly off. See end of this post for accurate sizes of quilt tops):

Example of 40-block quilt top using solid colors.

Example of 40-block quilt top using Sunprint 2024 fabric collection by Alison Glass.

As you can see, the two images on the left are a slightly different shape than the one on the right. The two on the left are designed with a 40-piece Layer Cake, so they’re 5 columns wide and 8 columns long. While the one on the right is designed with a 42-piece layer cake, so it’s 6 columns wide by 7 rows long. So the left ones are a little narrower and longer, while the one on the right is a little wider but shorter. You could make the 5 by 8 quilt out of any Layer Cake (just leave out two of the squares from a 42-square bundle), but if you want to make the one on the right, you must either choose a 42-square bundle or go with the second Layer Cake option detailed below. Bundles should be clearly marked with how many pieces of fabric are included.

I designed this pattern to use precut bundles, for two reasons. First, you will get a full collection of fabric out of precuts, which makes it super easy to get a lovely, scrappy look for your quilt. Second, you won’t have to purchase a lot of yardage, and you won’t have a lot of waste if you use precuts. I *mostly* don’t include yardage measurements because the quilt is designed for precuts, but if you prefer yardage, please send me a message and I will send the yardage requirements to you.

Materials

Here’s what you will need to make this quilt:

40 or 42 – 10-inch squares for your blocks
- Recommend purchasing one 10-inch square precut bundle of your choice
93 or 97 – 2.5″ by 10″ strips for the sashing
- Recommend using either 1 Jelly Roll or 1 Layer Cake. If desiring scrappy but cohesive look, buy from the same collection as your Layer Cake for the blocks. You won’t use the entire precut bundle for the sashing, whichever precut you choose to use.
  - If using a 40-piece Layer Cake for your blocks but desiring to make the 6 by 7 quilt above, purchase a second Layer Cake for the sashing and add 2 squares from it to the squares from your first Layer Cake.
54 or 56 – 2-1/2-inch squares for the cornerstones. May either be all from a single fabric, as shown above in my examples, or from same collection as blocks and sashing, if desiring super-scrappy look.
- Can purchase a 1/3-yard cut of fabric if desiring one single fabric for your cornerstones
- Can also purchase 2 Mini Charm packs, or use leftovers from the Jelly Roll or Layer Cake you used for your sashing.

Honestly, the easiest and least expensive way to make this quilt would be by purchasing 2 Layer Cakes, either from the same collection, or from two that coordinate very closely (usually by the same designer. An example would be using two different 10-inch square precut bundles of Sunprint by Alison Glass. Sunprint 2024 coordinates very closely with Sunprint 2023, Sunprint 2022, etc).

Cutting

For your blocks, no cutting is required. If you purchased a 40-piece bundle but desire to make the 42-block quilt above (which is wider but shorter than the 40-block quilt), use all 40 squares from your first 10-inch square precut bundle, and then choose two from your second 10-inch square precut bundle to add to the first set.

For your sashing, from either your Jelly Roll or your second Layer Cake, cut a total of 93 (for the 40-block quilt) or 97 (for the 42-block quilt) strips that are 2-1/2″ wide by 10″ long. As you can get 4 of these strips per 10 inch square or per 2-1/2 inch strip, you will use 24 or 25 strips or squares from your bundle.

For your cornerstones, cut either 54 (for the 40-block quilt) or 56 (for the 42-block quilt) squares that are 2-1/2″ by 2-1/2″. If using Mini Charm Packs, simply choose the appropriate number of squares from your packs. If using leftover Jelly Roll strips or Layer Cake squares, you can get 16 cornerstone squares from each strip or square. So you would use 4 strips or squares. If using yardage, first cut 4 strips of fabric 2-1/2″ by WOF, then subcut into your total number of squares.

Layout

The layout of your quilt is entirely up to you. I always enjoy a sort of gradient from top left to bottom right. Not really sure why, to be honest, it just looks right to my eye. You’ll see that both of my mockup quilts above follow this pattern, for both the blocks and the sashings. However!!! You absolutely do not have to follow this layout! This is YOUR quilt, so go with what appeals to you! You could do top-to-bottom, or right-to-left.

The most important thing is not to get so hung up on the “perfect” layout that you never move on from this first step. Remember, your fabrics all coordinate perfectly, because they’re all from the same fabric collection. So if you can’t choose the perfect layout, consider a completely scrappy, random one.

If you want an entirely scrappy and random look, you might consider taking your blocks and tossing them into a paper bag, shaking them up until they’re all mixed up in there, and then pulling them at random and laying them out.

Whatever layout you choose, rest secure in the knowledge that your quilt is going to come out beautifully, because all of the fabrics coordinate perfectly.

Assembly

Once you’ve chosen your layout, it’s time to start assembling.

On each block, take the sashing strip that goes on it’s left, and sew them together, using a 1/4″ seam allowance, so that they look like this:

Next, you’re going to sew your rows together. First, take the sashing that goes on the right of the first block of the first row, and sew it to that block, so that that first block has a sashing on each side.

Next, take that first sashing/block/sashing combo, and sew it to the second block/sashing combo from the first row, sewing sashing to block and continuing on all the way across the row. Your row should look like this:

Repeat for all rows. Press seam allowances toward your blocks (and away from sashings).

Now, you should have your horizontal sashing strips and cornerstones left. You’re going to sew them together much as you did with your rows.

So take your top left cornerstone, and sew it to the sashing strip next to it. Repeat for the cornerstones and sashings all the way across, then for all sashing rows down the quilt. Then sew your cornerstone/sashing combos together across your sashing rows, not forgetting to sew the last cornerstone on at the end of each row. So you should have sashing/cornerstone strips that look like this:

For your sashing rows, press your seam allowances toward your cornerstones, and away from your sashings. This will ensure that your seams can nest as you sew all of your rows and sashing rows together.

Now it’s time to sew all of your sashing rows and block rows together. Don’t forget to add your top and bottom sashing rows. Use a 1/4″ seam allowance for all seams, and make sure that your cornerstones line up with your vertical sashings in your block rows. Your seams should nest nicely together. If your seam allowances are a teensy bit off, it’s not a big deal. I always like to get my seams nested, and then kind of wiggle and scooch the fabric evenly into place as I sew.

Once your top is pieced, you don’t need to worry too much about pressing in one direction versus the other. I usually sew all of these seam allowances in a single direction.

Your quilt top is complete and should look like this: