Quilter's Quandry: How do I Calculate the Yardage for My Quilt?

Q: My question is how do you figure yardage to make a quilt? I have made quilts from books before and it tells you the exact yardage you need to buy and you end up with a little left over. How do you go about figuring how much of each fabric you will need to make chosen squares into a certain size quilt.

For example --- I am making twin quilts for my children. I want to do 8" blocks with 4 squares making the block. 2 4" squares of color A, 2 4"x2" rectangles of color B, 2 2"x2" squares of color C, and 2 2"x2" squares of color D. How do I figure yardage for Color A, B, C, and D?

How do I calculate the fabric requirements for this square? I want to make a twin size quilt.

A: Here are the basic numbers:

Fabric A - since there are 2 of these patches in each block, you will need 192 patches for each quilt. You will cut 4 1/2" strips.

1 yard of 44" fabric yields 7 4.5" wide strips

1 strip of 44" fabric yields 9 4.5" squares

7 strips x 9 squares = 63 squares per yard

192 total squares / 63 squares per yard = 3.05

I would buy 3.5 yards of Fabric A

Fabric B - you will need 192 of each of these per block as well, only these will be 2 1/2" strips.

1 yard of 44" fabric yields 13 2.5" wide strips

1 strip of 44" fabric yields 9 4.5" rectangles

13 strips x 9 rectangles = 117 rectangles per yard

192 total rectangles / 117 rectangles per yard = 1.64

I would buy 2 yards of Fabric B

Fabrics C & D - again, you will need 192 of each of these patches, and these will be 2 1/2" strips.

1 yard of 44" fabric yields 13 2.5" wide strips

1 strip of 44" fabric yields 16 2.5" squares

13 strips x 16 squares = 208 squares per yard

I would buy 1 yard of Fabric C and 1 yard of Fabric D

Hope that helps -

Happy Quilting!

Penny is a quilter of more than 24 years who seeks to interest new quilters and provide them with the resources necessary to create beautiful quilts.

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