Preforms for use in molding composite parts are made directly from composite chips that are composed of fibers and an uncured thermosetting resin. Cold composite chips are formed into a stream of non-agglomerating chips that is used to fill the cavity of a preform tool. The non-agglomerating chips flow into the preform tool cavity to form a population of non-cohesive composite chips. The non-cohesive composite chips are then heated to form a preform made up of a consolidated population of cohesive composite chips in which the non-sticky uncured thermosetting resin of the non-cohesive chips has been converted to a sticky uncured thermosetting resin.