Common Mistakes To Avoid With Pre-Cut Quilt Kits

Pre-cut quilt kits hold such promise when you first bring them home. The coordinated fabrics nestled in their packaging whisper of cozy evenings spent stitching and the satisfaction of a beautiful finished quilt. Yet many of us have experienced that sinking feeling when our carefully planned project goes awry.

Over the years, we’ve watched countless quilters make the same common mistakes with these convenient pre-cut quilt kits. The good news is that most of these pitfalls are completely avoidable once you know what to look for. Let’s review what others have learned through trial, error, and plenty of seam ripping so that you don’t have to venture down that frustrating route.

Not Reading the Pattern Completely Before Starting

We quilters are eager creatures. When inspiration strikes, we want to dive right into cutting and piecing. However, skipping the pattern read-through is a surefire way to create problems down the road.

Pre-cut kits include specific instructions that differ from yardage-based patterns. These instructions are meant to make the process easy and quick. After all, that’s the whole point of getting a pre-cut kit: removing the hassle of neck-craning, measuring, and cutting. But those carefully laid-out steps won’t do you much good if you don’t read them.

Take your time perusing the entire pattern before you thread your first stitch, and make sure to carefully follow each step along the way. Note any special tools you might need at the beginning, like specialty feet for your sewing machine. Having all your materials on hand and the general layout in mind are hugely helpful preparations.

Forgetting About Fabric Orientation

Even though the fabric pieces are pre-cut to size, you still need to pay attention to fabric orientation—especially with directional prints like stripes, plaids, or motifs. Sewing a piece upside down or with patterns running the wrong way can disrupt the flow of your design.

So before you start sewing, lay out the kit’s pieces and check how they align with the pattern. Do some rearranging if something looks off. This simple step will help you avoid design mishaps that might require seam ripping later.

Rushing Through the Pressing

Pre-cut quilt pieces often arrive slightly creased from being in storage, packaging, and transit. Therefore, we recommend pressing each patch of fabric before stitching it into the quilt. Proper pressing will help you get those smooth seams and a polished finish. But rushing through this step (or using too extreme of a heat setting) can either distort the fabric or cause permanent creases, both of which you obviously want to avoid.

A best practice is to use a gentle pressing motion (don’t drag the iron) to keep the fabric pieces true to their original shape. Also, adjust your iron’s temperature based on the fabric type, and always test on a scrap piece if you’re unsure. Kits usually come with some extra pieces in case something goes wrong, including in the ironing stage.

Ignoring Color Value Distribution

Pre-cut quilt kits are carefully curated with a variety of colors and patterns, but it’s up to you to distribute those colors and values (light, medium, dark) evenly across your quilt. The pattern in the instructions is your guide, but each individual fabric piece is unique, and you can decide which square of the specified pattern should go where.

If you want to employ some technical precision, you can take a photo and convert it to black and white. This will help you see the value contrasts more clearly.

Not Planning for Binding, Batting, and Backing

Some pre-cut quilt kits contain just the fabric pieces for the quilt’s top, while others contain everything, including the binding, backing, and batting. Batting is the least common inclusion in a quilt kit, but this is fortunately something most quilters have lying around.

Make sure you thoroughly read everything that comes in your kit before you order it. Then, buy whatever isn’t included. This will save you the disappointment of eagerly awaiting your kit only to realize you can’t start your project until you make a run to the store for the remaining supplies.

Overlooking the Importance of Accurate Seams

Pre-cut fabric pieces are designed to fit together perfectly, but only if you maintain accurate seam allowances as you sew. A seam that’s slightly too wide or too narrow can throw off the alignment of the entire quilt.

That’s why you should double-check that your sewing machine is set to the correct seam allowance (which is typically ¼ inch for quilting) and use a seam guide if you prefer the added assurance.

Taking Too Many Creative Liberties

We get it—you’re an artist and you love to follow your vision, even if your kit’s instructions don’t see that vision. Though we wholeheartedly support creative freedom, we encourage you to realize that pre-cut quilt kits are not the best place to exercise it.

These kits often provide just enough fabric for the featured pattern. This leaves very little room for changes like extending the quilt size or mixing up the pattern. If you don’t want to be restrained by instructions, it’s probably better to design your own pattern with a versatile fabric bundle that you can cut to any shape and size you please.

Neglecting To Pre-Wash When Necessary

The pre-wash debate divides quilters, but with pre-cuts, the decision requires extra consideration. These small pieces can fray more easily in the wash, and some might shrink more than others.

If you typically pre-wash your fabrics, test wash one piece from each fabric in the bundle first. This tells you how much fraying and shrinkage to expect. Some quilters prefer to pre-wash only the darker fabrics to prevent bleeding, but keep in mind that this might affect your pattern’s fit once you assemble everything.

Wrapping Up

Pre-cut quilt kits take the tedious work of measuring and cutting out of quilting. They arrive at your doorstep ready to assemble and turn into a cozy, gorgeous work of art. By avoiding these common mistakes when you make yours, you can hopefully save a few hours of frustration and end up with a project you’re really proud of.

Buy Quilting Kits at Inspired To Sew

Don’t have your kit yet? No problem—you’re in the right place! Inspired To Sew has an incredible variety of quilting kits for sale. Browse our selection today; you’re sure to find a pattern you love with the supplies you’re looking for.