What is a fat quarter?

A Yard of fabric:

A yard of fabric is cut to 36″ in length as it comes off of a bolt (the piece of cardboard that fabric is wrapped around). The widths of most of today’s quilting cotton fabric measure 42″ to 44″ across their width (from selvage to selvage).

Regular quarter yard:

A quarter yard is 1/4th of a yard, or 9″ long and as wide as the fabric; a quarter yard of a quilting cotton usually measures 9″ x 44″.

Regular quarter-yard cuts of fabric can be used for any purpose, but are especially helpful for strip piecing, where long strips of fabric are sewn together and cut into segments.

A Fat Quarter? How Big is a Fat Quarter?

A fat quarter is a one-fourth yard cut of fabric that (usually) measures 18″ x 22″ instead of the typical 9″ x 44″ quarter-yard cut. The longest side’s dimension will vary if your fabric is not 44″ wide.

Why a Fat Quarter of Fabric?

Look at the illustration and you’ll see that a fat quarter gives you the opportunity to cut larger chunks of fabric than would be possible from a regular quarter-yard, including strips that are twice as long on the fabric’s (less stretchy) lengthwise grain.

A fat quarter offers more versatility, whether it’s for patchwork or appliqué. Quilt shops know that fat quarters are popular, and usually offer a wide assortment of them, stacked up and ready to go.

You can use fat quarters for strip piecing by making extra strip sets from shorter lengths of fabric until you’ve cut the number of segments required for the pattern.