Andy QAL Week 2: Cut and Prep Your Fabric

It's week 2 of the Andy Quilt Along and this week we're tackling maybe the least fun part: prepping and cutting your fabrics. I don't think this is a step anyone really loves, and yet it really matters that you take your time and do it well. And coming from a type B quilter, that's really saying something. ;) 

I'm going to be going live (time tba) on Instagram to actually demonstrate this a little, but here are answers to some of my most frequently asked questions...

Do you prewash your fabrics?

I do not. I came to quilting from garment sewing where prewashing is very important, and I actually started off that way. But for a long time, I've stopped prewashing with the a few exceptions:

• if it's a fabric I worry will bleed badly, I might prewash to see if I can get some of that initial bleed out and also know how it's going to act in the quilt. (you can use a color catcher to see this)
• if I got it at the thrift store, I definitely prewash. Partly because this is my habit when I bring thrifted linens in my home anyways, and partly because I'd like to get rid of that thrift-store smell before I start ironing and working with it.
• if it's a backing like flannel that I worry might shrink much more than my quilt top. Most flannels from reputable fabric companies (AGF, Moda, Riley Blake, etc) have very high-quality flannels that don't shrink too much. But you could cut a 5" square, wash and dry it, and measure to see if it shrunk if you're worried about it!

The biggest reason I like to wait to wash until the quilt is made is that I think it accounts for some of the crinkliness I get in my quilts. There's no real science to that and that could be completely wrong, but it's my gut that it at least has a part to play in it.

Do you iron before you cut?

Yes! I'm a big believer in this. And if I'm working with wovens, I will use some starch as well. You can use starch on any of them--it will make them a little stiffer and easier to work with, which is extra nice on Andy with the little squares, but it's especially helpful with a looser weave like a woven fabric. 

How do you cut these pieces?

The cutting diagrams in the pattern will be very helpful to get the pieces you need from each fabric. If you decide to use 1/2 yds instead of FQs, I like to just keep my fabric folded and double my cuts that way, still using the FQs cutting diagram.

How do I cut WOF?

This can be daunting! I like to start with making sure my edge is on grain. Fabrics oftentimes get a little wonky on the bolt so I like to iron my yardage that I'll be using for the sashing and then snip a tiny 1/2" from the edge of it. Then you rip. It feels scary but it's actually so fun. And this cuts your fabric on grain (or just straight!). From that step, I'll fold my fabric back the way it came, getting that new straight edge nicely lined up. And I'll begin cutting from that edge. (Actually, because it kind of creates a bit of a frayed edge, I'll trim that bit off first, making sure I'm keeping it even) I'll be adding a video for this step soon!

What does it mean to subcut?

Subcutting is what we do with pieces we've cut once. For example, if a pattern needs 2.5" squares, you would begin by cutting 2.5" strips (these will be 2.5"x the width of the fabric, or WOF). From those strips, you would then cut the 2.5" squares. This second step is "subcutting."

How should we organize these pieces?

Once you have cut all of your pieces, I like to lay them all out with by fabrics like this:

This gives me a visual of the colors I'm working with before I start sorting. I might even make a copy of this picture in black and white to see where the saturation falls for each of my fabrics. Doing this helps me to try to keep the blocks a little more balanced, not just in color but also in saturation.

Other than saturation, I try to take into account an outlier color. There might be one or two colors that kind of stick out a little in my stack. Personally, my approach to that might be to try to spread these throughout the quilt as much as possible. In other words, if there are two fabrics of a color that kind of feels different from everything else, I won't put those together in a block. That way they can both be in as many blocks as possible and it might create a little more balance in my quilt when I'm assembling all of the blocks. (But! It's also fun to make a standout block! So this isn't a "rule", just a technique I follow.)

After this step, I take all of my C pieces that I've cut (those are that center square) and I lay them out on my table. This is my center piece and the largest square of the block, so I like to begin with working around that. Then I choose my A and A2 pieces (the outer accent) of a certain fabric and add those to a C piece, working block by block. My last step is to add B in the same way. Now I've sorted out all of my blocks And I'm ready to sew them! 

How do you store all of these little pieces?

Most of the time, and for most of us, leaving these little pieces out until we can sew them into blocks isn't the best idea/not feasible. There are a few methods for keeping them sorted. 

• ziplock baggies: you can use (and reuse, and reuse, and reuse) ziplock baggies in your sewing room, especially for sorting like this quilt calls for!
• sewing clips: these are becoming one of my best-loved quilting tools. They are just so dang handy. And you can use them here to clip them group by group.
• paper plates: this is another fun, around-the-house object you can use to keep them separated. Place each sorted group onto a paper plate, and then you can just stack them on top of each other. Again, you can reuse these over and over again.
• a tray: maybe the most likely to end up a little shuffled, but if you have a tray you can use, it's kind of nice for transporting back and forth from your cutting table to machine.

How do you speed up the process?

Andy does have a lot of bits to cut. I wrote it to have squares instead of strip-piecing to make it a little more scrappy and scrap-friendly. But it is a drawback. When you're cutting the scrappy fabrics from FQs/ 1/4 yds, it's possible to stack a few at once to make your cuts. Just be very careful doing this, because if you make a mistake, you make it across more fabrics at once! 

The other part of speeding up that I'd like to mention is that accuracy in quilting is a factor in getting your pieces to line up. If you're consistently cutting your pieces just a smidge off here and there, it can end up being a problem over time. So taking your time cutting is important. 

BUT ALSO I think quilts that aren't "perfect" are my favorites. Again, I'm very not-Type A. But sometimes I can fail to highlight those areas that are important for points lining up, etc., because I just want it to be fun. And I forget points lining up for my Type A pals is very fun. 😂🥰  So do with this info what you will. 

Ok, I think those were the bulk of the cutting/prepping questions I've received! I'll be dropping some video content too and I'll put updates here as I go, so stay tuned! ;) My final tip: treat yourself to sewing one block. You've just done the not-fun part, and seeing one block come together (and testing it out!) will be so gratifying! :)

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