How to Calculate Quilt Fabric
As a quilter, there are few things more frustrating than working on a quilt top and running out of the fabric needed for your design. And if the fabric came from your fabric collection or stash, you might not be able to purchase more. Taking the time to design your quilt top and measuring how much fabric is needed for the project will save time and money.
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Things You'll Need
- Quilt design
- Graph paper
- Colored pencils (optional)
- Fabric swatches (optional)
- Calculator
Instructions
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Draw your quilt block or top on graph paper. If you are repeating the same blocks in the quilt top, you only need to draw each block once. Note how many of each block you will be making. Each square on the graph paper should be a logical unit (generally a piece of the block). Note the width and length of each unit.
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Create a legend for each piece of the quilt block or top, including sashing and borders. Write the finished width and length next to each piece. If the piece is more than one unit on the graph paper, add the finished width and length as appropriate. Add a 1/4-inch seam allowance to each side of the piece for the unfinished width and length of the piece--that is, the cutting size. Write the cutting size next to each piece.
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3
Assign colors or fabric swatches to each piece of the block or top. If assigning colors, it is recommended to actually color in the pieces.
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Add the number of pieces for each color or fabric swatch. This is the number of pieces you will have for each color or fabric.
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Divide 40 by the length of the cutting piece. Generally, the width of fabric on the bolt is 42 inches, and 40 is used for a safe calculation. If you have a piece of fabric already cut, divide the width of the fabric. This is the number of pieces you will be able to cut from the width of a bolt of fabric.
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Divide the total number of pieces by the number of pieces you can cut from the width of a bolt of fabric. This is the number of "columns" needed to get all the pieces. Multiply this number by the width of the cutting piece. This is the total length in inches you need from the bolt of fabric.
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For example, a top requires 40 pieces of a 4-by-8 rectangle. Ten rectangles can be cut from the width of a bolt of fabric (40/4=10). The number of columns required is four (40/10=4). The total length required from the bolt of fabric is 32 inches (4x8=32).
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Tips & Warnings
Remember to add the 1/4-inch seam allowance to each side of a piece when calculating your fabric needs.
Some block construction (e.g., flying geese) and "fuzzy-cutting" (i.e., cutting out a specific design on the fabric) may have waste fabric. For block construction, use the amount of fabric you will need to construct the piece, rather than the finished size. For fuzzy cutting, count the designs on the fabric itself.
Be careful of directional fabric--calculate your fabric to ensure that for each piece, the fabric is facing the correct direction.
Allow for mistakes--once you have calculated the amount of fabric needed, be sure you have some fabric leftover just in case you accidentally cut the fabric incorrectly.
There are a number of tools available to help with fabric calculation, including fabric calculators and quilters reference books. All are available at your local quilt shop, and the employees will be able to help calculate your fabric requirements.
