Open Precuts in the studio. The form on this page is that calculator.
Why precuts are a pack, not a yard
Precuts are cut and counted before you buy them. A charm pack is not "a yard of 5 inch squares." It is 42 squares, pinked, often a thread under 5 inches. A jelly roll is 40 strips of 2 1/2 by about 42 inches. Planning as if you will cut them from yardage will not match the bundle in your hand.
This calculator uses the counts shops actually pack. Packs vary by a square or two from one company to the next. Forty-two and forty are the numbers to shop with. If your pack says 40 charms, you already know to buy the extra. Fat quarters on their own, including which way to turn the piece, are also on the fat quarter calculator.
How many pieces come out of a pack
The piece you want is laid on one precut, both orientations, and the count is whichever way fits more. That count times the number in a pack is the yield. If you need more pieces than one pack holds, the card rounds up to packs.
- Mini charm: 2 1/2 inch squares, 42 in a pack
- Charm: 5 inch squares, 42 in a pack
- Jelly roll: 2 1/2 by 42 inch strips, 40 in a roll
- Honey bun: 1 1/2 by 42 inch strips, 40 in a roll
- Layer cake: 10 inch squares, 42 in a pack
- Fat eighth: 9 by 21 inches. Fat quarter: 18 by 21 inches.
What a standard pack yields
Pinked edges are a thread under the named size. If the piece you need is exactly 5 inches, you will not get a clean one out of a 5 inch charm. Use the charm as the piece itself, or cut from a larger square.
| Precut | Usual size | In a pack | 2 1/2 in squares |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mini charm | 2 1/2 in | 42 | 42 (they are the square) |
| Charm | 5 in | 42 | 4 each, 168 a pack |
| Jelly roll | 2 1/2 × 42 in | 40 strips | 16 each, 640 a pack |
| Honey bun | 1 1/2 × 42 in | 40 strips | Too narrow. 28 squares of 1 1/2 in per strip |
| Layer cake | 10 in | 42 | 16 each, 672 a pack |
| Fat eighth | 9 × 21 in | 1 | 24 |
| Fat quarter | 18 × 21 in | 1 | 56 |
How to use this calculator
- Pick the precut you are buying. The size and the count per pack fill in from the list.
- Enter the piece you want to cut from it. A layer cake cut into 5 inch squares is a different yield from a layer cake cut into 2 1/2 inch squares.
- Enter how many of those pieces the project needs. Leave it blank if you only want the yield of one pack.
- Read the packs to buy. If the piece is larger than the precut, the card says so instead of inventing a fraction of a square.
Tips for sewing from precuts
- A 5 inch charm yields four 2 1/2 inch squares only if you are willing to use the pinked edge as the raw edge of the smaller square. It is tight.
- Jelly-roll strips are already 2 1/2 inches. Subcutting them into squares is 16 per strip if the strip is a full 42 inches. A strip that was trimmed at the shop yields 15.
- Layer cakes are 10 inches, which is four 5 inch squares, or a single unfinished block with a little to spare. Strips from yardage, when you are not using a pack, are the strip calculator.
When the piece is part of a whole quilt. A quilt designed from a bundle still has a piece count. This page tells you whether the bundle is enough. The fabric calculator counts every piece in a design, then adds binding, backing, and batting. These pages answer one question at a time.