How Much Fabric Do I Need? Reading Quilt Cutting Lists and Yardage Charts

Buying too little fabric means a frantic search for a discontinued print; buying too much fills your shelves. Estimating yardage is mostly simple arithmetic once you understand a few terms.

Common finished sizes

• Cushion: 16 × 16 in (41 × 41 cm)
• Wall hanging: 24 × 24 in (61 × 61 cm)
• Baby quilt: 36 × 48 in (91 × 122 cm)
• Throw: 50 × 65 in (127 × 165 cm)
• Queen: 90 × 108 in (229 × 274 cm)

Seam allowance and waste

Most patchwork uses a quarter-inch seam allowance on every edge of every piece. Small pieces lose a surprisingly large share of their area to seams, so a design with many tiny pieces needs more fabric than its finished size suggests. As a rule of thumb, add 15% for designs with large pieces and 25 to 30% for fine mosaic designs.

From share percentage to yardage

Selino's swatch list gives each fabric a share of the design. Multiply the finished area of the quilt top by that share, then add the waste allowance. For example, a 24 × 24 inch wall hanging is 576 square inches. If indigo covers 28% of the design, that is about 161 square inches, or roughly 200 square inches with a 25% allowance, a little more than a fat quarter.

Do not forget the rest of the quilt

• Backing: the finished size plus 4 inches on every side.
• Batting: the same as backing.
• Binding: the perimeter plus 12 inches, cut in 2.5-inch strips.

Buy a little extra of the dominant fabric

If you only buy extra of one fabric, make it the one with the largest share. It is the hardest to substitute without the change being visible.

Maker and Studio plans include yardage estimates per fabric in the pattern pack, calculated for the finished size you choose.