The Charlotte Quiltalong Week 2 - Cutting Your Fabric
Welcome to Week 2 of the Charlotte Quiltalong! This week is all about cutting your fabric. If you’re still finalizing your fabric pull or waiting on a delivery, don’t worry — you can absolutely cut as you go or catch up later.
✂️ A Quick Note on Progress
If you’ve ever started cutting and thought, “Hmm… this one might not work,” you’re not alone. I regularly change my mind mid-cut once I see how fabrics work together. Don’t be afraid to swap something out, but also trust in your initial vision if you are on the fence! The finished quilt is always better than the quilt in pieces.
📐 Cutting Instructions
Feature Fabrics
The Charlotte Quilt is designed to work with a jelly roll, fat quarters, or scraps, so choose what works best for you.
If you’re using a jelly roll or fat quarters:
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Follow the cutting instructions in the pattern for your quilt size.
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Take your time and cut accurately — consistency will make piecing much smoother.
If you’re using scraps:
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Check out the table at the end of the "Block Construction" section to see how many total blocks you need to make.
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You will need an A, B, C, and D piece for each block.
Background Fabric
If you’re using yardage:
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Start by cutting your WOF (width of fabric) strips, then subcut as shown in the pattern.
If you’re using low-volume or scrappy background fabric:
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No need to stick to WOF — just cut the number of pieces listed.
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A sharp rotary blade makes a big difference — dull blades do not cut as accurately AND they are super annoying.
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Give your fabric a quick press before cutting. It’s an extra step, but it makes everything easier (and more accurate).
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If cutting a whole quilt’s worth of fabric feels overwhelming, try breaking it into shorter sessions.
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I like to cut my background fabric before cutting my feature fabrics. It can be monotonous and it gets that part of the process out of the way.
📸 Share Your Progress
I’d love to see your stacks of cut fabric (or the chaos that cutting can sometimes create 😅).
Tag @kitchentablequilting and use #thecharlotteqal so I can see and share what you’re working on!
🗓️ Instagram Live – Tuesday at 1pm PT
I’ll be live on Instagram Tuesday at 1pm PT to chat about fabric cutting, answer your questions, and talk through anything else you’re curious about. Can’t make it live? The replay will be saved so you can watch anytime.
Next week, we’ll start piecing blocks — it’s going to get fun from here. See you then!
Nicki Gabrysiak on
When we get to cutting diagonals for corners and end pieces, will we be able to use both haves of the cut blocks? That would make a difference in how many blocks I would need.
Thank you.
Marianne on
Never used the Stripology ruler, but can’t you just leave the strips as cut and rotate your mat and cut again to get the 2.5 inch squares?
Tricia on
Question – in the video, I noticed that you mixed up your pinks, oranges, and purples into your four groups (A, B, C, and D). If I am using rainbow jelly rolls, should I mix colors up entirely, or should I group them by color family?