Fat Quarters | Quilting Fabric

A fat quarter is a one-quarter-yard piece of fabric, measuring about 18 inches by 22 inches. Normally a quarter yard of fabric would be 9 inches long (one fourth of a 36-inch yard), and then as wide as the fabric. Many of the cotton yard goods sold for quilting are 44 to 45 inches wide.

But a long, narrow piece, 9 by 45, might not be as useful as it could be, depending on the shapes the quilter wants to cut.

A fat quarter is about 18 inches by 22 inches. Instead of cutting the yardage by its full width, it is first split down the middle. This makes a squarish piece of fabric, much easier for the quilter to get the most useable pieces.

And that's what makes them fat!

Photo by kimbesa

When I started quilting years ago, there was no such thing as a fat quarter. If you wanted a quarter yard of fabric, you got a piece 9 inches long by whatever the width of the fabric. Cotton fabric for quilting was usually 36 or 45 inches wide.

Then this bright idea came onto the quilting scene, and quilters have never looked back!

Here's what fat quarters give you:

• Lots for a little. You get at least four different fabrics for the average price of one yard


• Variety for your quilts. Make a rainbow or a flower garden, or a scrap quilt


• Enough but not too much Goldilocks. If you only need a little, it's very convenient to get a fat quarter


• A piece that's roughly square gives better use of the yardage, vs a long narrow piece


• No waiting in line to have your fabric cut from a bolt... Fat quarters are sold pre-cut, ready to go

Photo by kimbesa

My mother had a sewing room in the basement at the house where I grew up. For many years she sewed our clothes for school, and household projects such as kitchen curtains.

I sewed my first quilting projects there. No such thing as fat quarters in those days.

Now she's the one with time to quilt. But I enjoy seeing the projects, and the fabrics...wow! There are so many beautiful fabrics available, beyond our wildest dreams in those days.

Just check out the modules below to see some samples of the kinds of fat quarters out there, and the books about these sewing projects.

Photo by kimbesa, a very long time ago