newbie question

[mylittle4]

Is there a difference between a quarter flat and fat quarter or are the same thing. I have seen these both at joann's

[homesteadmamma]

According to quiltermom they are both the same. They are exactly the same size, just folded or rolled differently. The size should be 18 x 22 inches.

We don't have them here and in all my travels from here to the west coast and back, I have never heard of a flat quarter.

[captclearance]

Why is a flat or fat quarter better than bolt fabric ???????

[homesteadmamma]

Lori, it really isn't. It is cut from a bolt of 100% cotton.

If this makes any sense, most quilters love them, because they aren't near as expensive as material when you purchase them. Material here is anywhere from $12.95 - 19.95 a metre. I can get a fat quarter for $2.99 - 5.00. so I can purchase about 5 fat quarters for the price of 1 metre of material. But if I was to purchase 5 fat quarters of the exact same material as the 1 metre, it would be more costly. In purchasing fat quarters, I can have way more of a variety than I can should I purchase a metre of material. At the cost of material, I could only purchase 1 or 2 metres of one color and that would be it.

For most quilts, you wouldn't use that much material. Most of my quilts are made with fat quarters because I like variety in my quilts.

In the long run, its cheaper to purchase material by the metre/yard than it is to purchase fat quarters of the same type of material. The major problem is that you only have a couple of pieces of material with limited colors in your supplies. Does that make sense?

[captclearance]

Yes it does, I find so much cotton fabric at Walmart for $1.00 or $2.00 a yard ..... I couldn't understand buying the fat quarters.....