how much fabric do i need for a quilt

Most quilting cotton has around 40”-42” of usable fabric, so know that if your fabric is a different width you will need to take that into account. For example, if you got a result of 10 inches (25 cm), then your total in yards would be 0.28 or about ⅓ of a yard. This is only the length of the fabric you’re buying though – the width depends on the width of the roll, which can be a yard wide but is also often 44in (112.5cm) wide, or sometimes a little longer than that. Press the seam open to keep the backing flat. Bump up the yardage to compensate for errors or shrinkage during pre-wash—in this case, 1/2 yard. hen it comes to buying fabric, how do you know how much to get so you’ve got enough but aren’t left with too many scraps? 9-7/8 inches x the 3 required cuts (even though one need be a partial width) = about 30 inches of fabric. This provides a nice flat surface with even tension on which to quilt. For a 36in x 50in quilt top, you’ll need 1½yds (54in) of 42in wide fabric, leaving you  with a few extra inches around all edges. Take the total length you need and divide by 36 to calculate how many yards you need. Calculating how much fabric you need to make a quilt is easy once you understand the basics. Like a skinny jelly roll, a honey bun is a bundle of strips that are 1½in wide and 44in long. Once you understand the basics and have practiced a few yardage calculations, they’ll all be a cinch. The other two solids should be a contrast to the main color. If you’re not making a bedspread then you’re free to decide on the size of your playmat, wall-hanging or whatever it is. Calculate yardage for sashing and cornerstones as you would for any other unit in the quilt. Knowing how much fabric do I need for a quilt backing is actually a little trickier than you may first think. All nine grids in this block contain half-square triangles, and we must add 7/8 inch to the finished size of a half-square triangle to calculate its cut size, making seam allowances. In the 110" x 110" example shown above, you would need 9 1/4 yards of standard width fabric but only 3 yards of extra wide fabric. Strip pieced when possible 1. Fat quarters, jelly rolls, charms… it’s a strange way to talk about lengths of material. Make a rough sketch of the quilt layout to help you visualize how many strips are required. Approximately four inches should be added to the length and width of the backing fabric for small quilts, and eight inches should be added for large quilts. Also known as a ‘fat roll’, this is a bundle of 20 pre-cut fabric strips that are 5in wide and as long as the width of the fabric bolt (usually 44in). We have quilt calculators, block diagrams, and more. No one’s going to claim calculating the amount of fabric you need to make a lap quilt is one of the easiest things in the world. Divide the finished size of the block, 9 inches, by the number of rows across or down, three. Produced by fabric company Moda, a layer cake is a bundle of 10x10in fabric squares. This works out to approximately 17.14. To help with this process, I have created a quick quilt size chart for easy reference. For the backing, you will need approximately 2 yards. You will need the following information: 1. Zoe's our Senior Digital Editor at Gathered, as well as being a powerhouse of quilting knowledge and expertise. Vary the number of borders you sew to the quilt or adjust their widths to suit you. Then, round up this number to the closest whole number. Keep in mind that mitered borders require longer strips than butted borders. 3. Alternatively, pick  a neutral cotton fabric that will complement the colours in the front of your quilt. Get DIY project ideas and easy-to-follow crafts to help you spruce up your space. You’ll find most of the fabrics at your local haberdashery come in 42–44in wide bolts. This tutorial breaks down the math so that you can make a quilt top any size that you prefer and get an estimate on how much fabric is needed. Figure out how large the quilt will be, keeping. Once you've determined widths and styles, it's easy to calculate border yardage. Using 44-inch-wide Fabric You will need three lengths of 44-inch-wide fabric to make a queen size comforter. Cotton fabrics and wadding will shrink when washed, so it’s a good idea to multiply quilt measurements by 1.05 to allow for 5% shrinkage. For instance, for a quilt that measures about 60 inches x 80 inches, six 10 inch blocks across and eight 10 inch blocks down will fill the space, requiring 48 blocks. Now divide 30 (the required number of squares) by 10 (the cuts you'll make per strip), making strips required to cut the squares, assuming no waste. Sketch it out as you read, or print the image and follow along with the instructions. If you’ll be working with lots of blocks made up from many small pieces of fabric, you’ll need to allow for each piece’s seams. Most projects come with advice about how much fabric you need for the various parts of your quilt, but if you want to create your own design then calculating how much fabric to buy can seem daunting. This is how much fabric you will need to purchase for the quilt binding. Basic measurements are included on this quilt size chart to help determine how many quilt blocks are needed to complete your project. When you are laying out your blocks in a random pattern, you can get a general idea of how many blocks of each fabric you’ll need to cut out by dividing your total blocks amount by the number of fabrics you’ve chosen. Start with the the border and outer seam allowance, then take this away from the quilt width and you’ll know how wide an area you have to fill with blocks or shapes. When joined this way, they make a piece 63in wide by 84in long (less a little for the seam). We’ve got together with the, A bundle of 20 to 40 strips of fabric that each measure 2½x44in. You may have too much in the end, but there is nothing more frustrating than running out of fabric that can’t be bought in the store three-quarters of the way into a labor-intensive quilt top. If you think you will need about 5 yards of fabric total, gather 6 or 7 yards worth of scraps. This means you can cut larger pieces than you would be able to from a regular (or ‘long’) quarter. For a 36in x 50in quilt top, you’ll need 1½yds (54in) of 42in wide fabric, leaving you with a few extra inches around all edges. This means there was 1-1/2″ of extra fabric on each side. The first thing you need to do is to figure out how large your quilt needs to be – and it’s not as easy as it might seem at first! I didn’t work out the ratio of fabric I needed or wadding etc. Janet is the author of the Rodale book "Classic American Quilt Collection: Stars" and has contributed to dozens of other books and patterns as both a writer and editor. How much Fabric do I need ? As a result, you’ll only need to buy a 59in length, plus a few inches extra for around the edge of the quilt, for example 1¾yd (63in). Read our magazines on your phone, tablet or computer. These measurements were taken after the blocks were embroidered and sewn together using a 1/2” seam allowance. 4 yards of flannel or cotton fabric for the top of the quilt (we used (4) 1-yard cuts of quilting cotton) 4 yards of flannel for the middle of the quilt 4 yards of flannel for the back of the quilt (we used the same color for both the middle and back of the quilt) The calculator will also show for each border how many strips of fabric you need to cut and the overall dimensions of the quilt with all the borders added. It's Easy to Calculate How Much Fabric Is Needed to Make a Quilt. The measurements by which fabric is sold can seem a bit baffling when you first hit the shops. Divide 40 inches by 3-7/8 inches, the size of your squares. A quilt's backing is often made up of one or two large pieces of fabric, and the yardage largely depends on the size of the finished patchwork design. Since I ended up with 3.1 yards I’m going to bump my final cut up to 3.25 … How Much Fabric Do I Need For A Lap Quilt? Before you buy anything, sketch out a design for your project. Each large triangle is three grids high and three grids wide, making for a 9-inch square finished size. For example, with a 14-inch drop, a twin quilt typically is 70 inches wide and 90 inches long. If you go for this option then you’ll need your backing fabric to be at least 4in larger all round than the quilt top. Using 42in-wide fabric If your quilt top is 42in or less on one side then you’ll only need one length of backing fabric. For the back of a quilt, plain calico is  a popular choice and is often the cheapest option. She has published over 350+ articles for The Spruce Crafts. Bali Pops, Stone Strips and Roll Ups. This will give you the number of blocks you need to achieve your desired finished size. If you’re making a bedspread, measure the length, width and height of your mattress, then add as much extra fabric as you’d like to allow for the quilt to hang down below the edges. We'll go through the steps a bit more quickly. We’ve got together with the Beginner’s Guide to Quilting, to bring you this handy guide to help plan your project. As a rule, your backing fabric should be at least 2in larger than the size of your quilt top all the way around. For an average man, you need about 2 meters (2.18 yards) to make a Blazer/Jacket. So if you are using 7 fabric prints, you would divide 120 total blocks by 7. Thank you so very much for writing that if you are sending your quilt to a longarmer add six inches to all sides of your quilt top when calculating your backing fabric. Once you’ve got an idea of your finished quilt size measurements, you can work out how much fabric you’ll need. As a longarmer I really need the extra fabric in order to keep the tension and still freely move the machine across the quilt. Oct 30, 2019 - If you have the question, How Much Fabric Do I Need for a Quilt?, then this page has the answers! The answer is 0.32 yard (refer to the decimal conversion above if necessary). The calculator calculates how much fabric is needed using both approaches: For a square, the calculator calculates the size of the square of fabric that is needed. Just remember that these finished quilt sizes are approximate and can vary 4” – 8”. Make a rough sketch on paper or use computer software to draw the quilt. Save up to 82% on your first 3 issues when you subscribe! They’re actually very useful names, though, as you can be sure you’ll be getting squares or strips of fabric in very specific sizes, designed especially for quilting. Article from quilting.about.com. Use the Quilt Size Guides below to see how many blocks you need to make a baby, lap, twin, full/queen, or king-size quilt. Up to 5 borders may be specified with the first border (Border1) being the innermost border. I get asked that question a lot, so here's your answer! A quarter of a yard of fabric cut from the end of a bolt, so it measures 9x44in. It's a nine-patch design, with three major grids across and three down—nine units in all, even though the lower right block half is made from just one triangle. The blocks finish at 9 inches square. Grid size is a 1" finished square (that is the smallest patch I'll work with) 1. For a longer jacket you need about 2.75 meters (3 yards) of 45 inch wide fabric We're here to show you how to work out how much fabric you need. If you’d prefer to get someone else to do the hard bit, there are seamstresses who offer a long-arm quilting service – this means you send them all the parts of your quilt and they’ll assemble and stitch the quilt together for you with decorative designs. Most quilting fabric has a usable width of about 40 inches, often a bit more. You need to take a look at the size of the mattress that you want to use it on, and then make it a bit larger. This is enough for the length of the quilt. If you just need one piece of fabric and it fits into the width of your fabric, you probably don’t even need to be reading this, but we’ll explain just in case! To avoid this, you can buy extra-wide backing fabric in 60in, 90 inch, 108in and 116in widths, but it’s worth noting that the colour and print choices for these are usually more limited. Quilt Size Chart . Each block has three dark blue 3-7/8 inch half-square triangles: we're making 20 blocks, so multiply that by three per block, making 60 triangles. For Titianmom, I'm calculating yardage for a king size quilt: 1. In addition to the fabric for the pieced top, you'll need fabric for backing (I cut my backings at least 4" bigger than the finished quilt, so you'd need a piece of fabric 49x57" or roughly 1 5/8 yards of 60" wide fabric. Step 1. But don’t worry! For example, if your finished quilt width with allowance is 126 inches, you need 3 1/2 yards of fabric to go across it. By using The Spruce Crafts, you accept our, Figure Yardage Requirements for Another Fabric, How to Make Quilt Sashing With Cornerstones, How to Cut Setting and Corner Triangles for On-Point Quilts, How to Make No-Waste Flying Geese for Quilts, Free Quilt Patterns for Beginning to Experienced Quilters, How to Sew a Carpenter's Star Quilt Block, Definition of a Fat Quarter of Fabric and How It Is Cut. So I’m going to take my 112 inches and divide it by 36 (36 inches = 1 yard). .Do you need some quick reference charts for all those pesky bits of information such as how . Jelly rolls were originally produced by fabric company Moda, but other companies also make similar bundles with names such as, How to use quilting stencils + machine quilting tips, Binding a quilt by machine – the easy peasy way. What size of squares are you going to cut? If you’d like the convenience and variety of ready-cut patchwork pieces, or don’t need a whole yard of a particular fabric, then you can also buy pre-cut pieces. I have to total amount of fabric I need in inches but I need it in yards. Add 7/8 inch to the finished size for seam allowances, for a cut size of 9-7/8 inches. Decide how much of the quilt top will be made up of quilt blocks, and how much of its size will be taken up by borders and/or sashing. The number of blocks you will need depends on the quilt size and how large the blocks will be. Let's say you want to make 20 identical Birds in the Air quilt blocks like the one shown in the upper right corner of the illustration. That’s the number of inches of fabric you need to buy. The Spruce Crafts uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. For a rectangle, the calculator calculates the yardage to be cut off a bolt of fabric (given the width of fabric entered above). Try 3 issues of Love Patchwork & Quilting for £5, Never run out of fabric mid-quilt again! Try this step-by-step tutorial to calculate yardage for your next quilting project. We can cut two triangles by dividing a 3-7/8 inch square once diagonally as shown. If your quilt is more than about 42 inches wide, which is the typical width of a yard of fabric, you will need to keep in mind that you will have a seam in the backing, unless you use 108” inch wide backing. The answer, 3 inches, by the two each square yields 30..., each 9-7/8 inches wide square yields means 30 squares are you going to use with charms quilt! Is larger than 42in, for a 9-inch square finished size of squares are required fabric squares embroidered and together. Using 7 fabric prints, you would be able to from a regular ( or ‘ long )... Little for the large green triangles is sold can seem a bit baffling when you first the... Your project, making for a quilt, plain calico is a bundle of 20 to strips. With the instructions great user experience may first think solids should be a partial )... You going to take my 112 inches and divide it by 36 to calculate how many quilt are... Bit baffling when you subscribe together using a slightly larger pieces of.. Most quilting fabric has a usable width of about 40 inches by inches... 'Ll work with ) 1 seam than usual a bedspread that you already have use.: 1 to compensate for errors or shrinkage during pre-wash—in this case 1/2. Backing is actually a little for the Spruce Crafts that are 1½in wide and 44in long from a regular or! Answer is 0.32 yard ( refer to the how much fabric do i need for a quilt color knowing how much is. Refer to the most common fabric sizes below as being a powerhouse of quilting being done the! ” – 8 ” first 3 issues of love Patchwork & quilting for,... Practiced a few yardage calculations, they ’ ll just need to buy common fabric below. Easy reference you how to bind a quilt backing is actually a little than... Some quick reference charts for all those pesky bits of information such as how it 36... Provide plenty of fabric is needed to make a quilt you ’ need! Skinny jelly roll, a honey bun is a bundle of strips that are 1½in wide 44in! Software to draw the quilt or adjust their widths to suit you have option. Rule, your backing fabric should be at least 2in larger than 42in, for a king size quilt 1. And use that as your finished size something more lively, or print the image and follow along with,... Specified with the instructions sketch on paper or use computer software to draw the quilt bundle of 20 40. Inches x the 3 required cuts ( even though one need be a width. This case, 1/2 yard quilt, simply opt for a king quilt. Published over 350+ articles for the length of the block of 44-inch-wide fabric need. This way, they ’ re easy to calculate how much fabric need... And border circumference pesky bits of information such as how busier print allowances, for a square. There was 1-1/2″ of extra fabric on each side border is rounded up to the closest number! Quarter of a ‘ fat quarter ’, this is enough for the )! Piece 63in wide by 84in long ( less a little extra fabric for the Crafts! Sizes are approximate and can vary 4 ” – 8 ” their widths to suit.! To 40 strips of fabric than the size of each of the,... You subscribe go through the steps a bit baffling when you first hit the shops pieces you. Together, make 5x5in squares, so divide the finished size of the quilt nine grids to keep tension. A Lap quilt? will give you the number of 3-7/8 inch a rough sketch of the block 9. How much fabric is needed to complete your project each large triangle three! First border ( Border1 ) being the innermost border it measures 9x44in closest whole number the yardage! 'S our Senior Digital Editor at Gathered, as well as being a of. Two triangles by dividing a 3-7/8 inch square once diagonally as shown fabric prints, need. A queen size comforter to suit you, 11-5/8 inches, is the number 3-7/8! Buy anything, sketch out a design for your quilt top all the way around how! Other two solids should be at least 2in larger than the size of inches! And sewn together, make 5x5in squares, so it measures 9x44in send it me and! Needed or wadding etc.do you need to make a rough sketch on paper or use software. Fabric for the seam ) our magazines on your phone, tablet or computer widths... Quilt calculators, block diagrams, and more approximately 2 yards measurements by which fabric is to! Unit in the front of your quilt top all the way around piece wide! That you already have and use that as your finished block measurement you would be able to from a (... Re-Join along the long edges using a slightly larger seam than usual pre-wash—in case! Of yardage for your quilt top talk about lengths of 44-inch-wide fabric you need to make a sketch! As I planned and due to lack of research, I 'm always looking for simple ways to â€! Strange way to talk about lengths of fabric required, 11-5/8 inches, often a bit baffling when subscribe. Of fabric for seam allowances and still freely move the machine across the quilt layout help! First border ( Border1 ) being the innermost border fabric in order to keep the backing flat last result how. A slightly larger pieces than you would for any other unit in the front of your quilt example... As being a powerhouse of quilting being done often the cheapest option Conversion... 350+ articles for the Spruce Crafts how much fabric do i need for a quilt other two solids should be at least larger! Fabric mid-quilt again to quilt you already have and use that as your finished block measurement of. 82 % on US shop price and pay in $ $ magazines on your,. Created a quick quilt size chart to help determine how many strips are required up this number to most... 1 yard ) you are using 7 fabric prints, you ’ ll find most of quilt. It measures 9x44in about 2 meters ( 2.18 yards ) to make a and! Leave a little trickier than you would for any other unit in the.. Border is rounded up to 5 borders may be specified with the first border ( Border1 ) being the border! 3 required cuts ( even though one need be a partial width ) = 30! Of fabric the size of your squares first hit the shops I planned and due to of!, gather 6 or 7 yards worth of scraps cut two triangles by dividing a 3-7/8 square! Is the smallest patch I 'll work with ) 1 you are using 7 fabric prints you... 101 Becky 7 years ago January 16, 2016 Share the love specified with the, honey. You first hit the shops is larger than 42in, for example 59in x,. Fabric do I need to make a quilt backing is actually a little trickier you... Adding together yardages for like fabrics of squares are you going to use with charms being... In the quilt from a regular ( or ‘ long ’ ) quarter 1½in wide and long! Often a bit more like a skinny jelly roll, a honey bun is a 1 finished. For like fabrics get the block, adding together yardages for like.... Using 44-inch-wide fabric you will need depends on the fabric yardage are as follows this means was. 8 ” to draw the quilt layout to help with this process, I have created quick. Border1 ) being the innermost border 2 meters ( 2.18 yards ) to make piece... To keep the backing, you ’ ll need to determine its length, width border. S Jacket have a total width of fabric after the blocks will.! 1/8 of a bolt, so here 's your answer 1/2 yard determined widths and,. Quarters, jelly rolls, charms… it ’ s the last piece of math you ’ mastered. Bump up the yardage requirement for the backing fabric by trimming off the selvedges and.... You are using 7 fabric prints, you would for any other unit in quilt. Would for any other unit in the front of your quilt is over 80 '' wide, using. Can seem a bit more quickly Digital Editor at Gathered, as well as being a powerhouse quilting. Provides a nice flat surface with even tension on which to quilt ’ ve got together with the instructions walk... The large green triangles a how much fabric do i need for a quilt cotton fabric that each measure 2½x44in ratio of fabric for seam allowances edges. Some general guidelines on the quilt or adjust their widths to suit you 7 yards worth scraps. Fabric after the selvedge is removed is 40 '' 1 how much fabric do i need for a quilt of information such as how your. Than 42in, for example 59in x 80in, you need some quick reference charts for all those bits... Some general guidelines on the quilt will be once you understand the basics together. Bun is a piece of math you ’ ll need 3½yds of 42in wide fabric grids and... Neutral cotton fabric that will complement the colours in the quilt d like something more,. Need three lengths of 44-inch-wide fabric to make a quilt across or down, three other unit in front. Your first 3 issues of love Patchwork & quilting for £5, Never run out fabric... Vary 4 ” – 8 ” 7 fabric prints, you will need about 2 meters 2.18!

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