How much quilt fabric do you need?

When I began quilting I kept buying fat quarters:  it was like an addiction.  Every time I went near a fabric shop I would pick up a few fat quarters - sometimes because I felt I needed some more fabric of a particular colour 'just in case', but very often because I adored the fabric pattern or colour and knew that I just had to have some of that fabric.

Nowadays I try to keep myself under control and buy fewer fabrics - but since I usually buy a few metres at a time I don't think that I am spending any less.

Anyway, the point is:  how much fabric do we need for a particular project?  As far as possible, I always try and cut strips across the width of the fabric and then cut the squares, triangles or whatever from the strip.

For this beginner quilt I am going to use 4.1/2" squares to make up the shoofly pattern.  This will give me a 9 patch quilt block 12" square.  In quilting terms the squares made of 2 triangles still count as 1 patch so this is a 9 patch quilt block.

Each block will need the following:

blue:  four squares 4.1/2" by 4.1/2"
blue:  two squares 4.7/8" by 4.7/8" (for the triangles)
cream: one square 4.1/2" by 4.1/2"
cream: two squares 4.7/8" by 4.7/8" (for the triangles)

The squares that will be cut into triangles have to be larger to compensate for the seam down the middle joining the triangles.

The quilt size we are aiming for is 60" by 60", so we will need 25 quilt blocks:  5 rows and 5 columns.

That means we need 100 blue 4.1/2" squares, 50 blue 4.7/8" squares, 25 cream 4.1/2" squares and 50 cream 4.7/8" squares.

If you cut a 4.1/2" strip across the width of the fabric, you create a strip 4.1/2" wide by 42" long.  This can be cut into 9 squares.  That means you need 12 strips of blue (100 squares divided by 9 squares per strip), and 6 strips of cream (50 squares divided by 9 squares per strip).

A strip 4.7/8" wide across the width of the fabric gives a strip 4.7/8" by 42" which can be cut into 8 squares.  So you will need 7 strips of blue (50 squares divided by 8 squares per strip) and the same again in cream.

Total requirement for blue fabric:
12 strips 4.1/2" wide equals 54" of fabric (1.1/2 yards)
7 strips 4.7/8" wide equals 34.1/8" (slightly under 1 yard)
Add these together and you need to buy 2.1/2 yards of blue fabric.

Total requirement for cream fabric:
6 strips 4.1/2" wide equals 27" of fabric (3/4 yard)
7 strips 4.7/8" wide equals 34.1/8" (slightly under 1 yard)
Add these together and you need to buy 1.3/4 yards of cream fabric.

You may or may not wish to work this all out each time you plan a project, but at least you now know how to arrive at the figure for how much fabric to buy. 

It's often easier to buy 2 or 3 yards of fabric and add any leftovers to your fabric stash!

The calculations shown above are for the patchwork quilt top only - border, binding and backing are not included.  This is partly because I often only decide on these once the quilt top has been sewn together.


 


rose@ludlowquiltandsew.co.uk
www.ludlowquiltandsew.co.uk