Jelly Rolls and Layer Cakes: The Rise of Pre-cut Fabrics

Pre-cut fabrics are coordinating fabric bundles that provide contemporary quilters with quick and easy solutions when selecting fabrics and reduce the amount of cutting required. This paper presents a history of pre-cut fabrics assembled through interviews with quiltmaking industry professionals, newspaper articles, quilting magazines and books, and discussions with longtime members of the quiltmaking community. Key innovations that laid the groundwork for the rise in popularity of pre-cut fabrics are discussed, and the history of four types of the most popular pre-cut fabrics (charm packs, fat quarters, Jelly Rolls, and Layer Cakes) is detailed. Quilters' rapid adoption of pre-cut fabrics impacts contemporary quilters' designs and quiltmaking practices. This research provides future guilt historians with the context needed to interpret contemporary quilters and their designs.