World Wide Quilting Page

Question of the Week

Question for the week of July 21, 2003:

Our question this week comes Kathy K:

What a fussy cut square is and how it is done?

Nicole: :
The women above explained "fussy cut square" well. Just remember that on your template, cut the opening to be the size of the square that you want to see. You will have to add your 1/4" seam allowance when you go to cut out your square.

Gail M :
A fussy cut square is choosing a special part of the fabric that you want to cut. You can make a see through template from plastic or use a square ruler to cut the fabric.

Bonnie Jensen :
fussy cut means that you take a particular pattern out of the piece of fabric. I use a clear square the size of the square needed, view to get the best possible exsposure and either draw around it and cut it out by hand...but I rather use the clear square to rotary cut it to retain the integrity of the fabric

Kathy :
It is a block that is cut so that the motif on the fabric is centered in the square. For example, if you're doing florals, you would cut the square so that the flower is centered on the block. You are "fussy-cutting" it rather than just rotary cutting strips and the motifs (or parts thereof) just fall wherever they fall. Fussy cutting was used a lot on the "I Spy" quilts where we wanted the whole animal or whatever to appear in the blocks. Hope this helps.

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