Fat Quarter Question

Old Cambridge Pike

21st-Century Marketing---Fat Quarter Packs

Paula Nadelstern asks:

By any chance, do you remember when the fat quarter was invented?

Asking for my memories is always a trip to a vague yet wonderful place.

I do recall that Karla and I did a lovely pattern booklet in 2002 called Fat Quarter Fancywork featuring applique projects designed especially to use the 18 x 20 inch cut that is so popular.

Buttonwood Basket by Karla Menaugh, 2002.

The term was definitely established by then. We had a good time thinking up alternate names. Fat Quarter is not our favorite way to describe a piece of fabric.

The John Tenniel illustrations for Alice in Wonderland

probably traumatized us when we were children.

We made many suggestions for words we liked better than fat. How about:

Statuesque, stocky or well-fed quarters.

Plump

And that's where my memory takes me.

Portly

But back to Paula's question, which is essentially when did shops start marketing a wider cut than a 9" x 44" inch strip under the name Fat Quarter?

Here's my research method:
Go to Google. Put in a specific time period. Ask for references to
fat quarter quilt

"fat quarter" quilt

"fat quarter"

Try it in Google Books too. Here's what I found in Google Books

Earliest reference - Letter from President Andrew Johnson:

May 22d 1869. My dear daughter

Along with your Beef I send you a nice fat quarter of Mutton which I accidently fell upon this morning. If you are not fond of it or do not need it, you can hand it over to your neighbour Mrs Dyck.

Roly-poly King Andy---too much mutton perhaps.

There were a few other references to fat quarters of meat.

The earliest reference to what we are talking about in terms of fabric was Margaret Boyles' Country Needlework in 1986 in which she explains the term well.

...a 'Quilter's Sample,''Fat Quarter' or various other names of their own devising. These are four 18" x 22-1/2" pieces (1/4 yard) cut from a full yard of 45" wide material. This is a very handy size for small projects...."

There may be earlier references because Boyles seems to be referring to terms she's heard. She did not originate the idea or the name.

But we can say that the term seems to have begun in the mid-1980s in reference to a fabric cut rather than a meat cut. Is your memory earlier than that?