Calculating Fabric Yardages

You’ll have noticed that most of my quilts do not have fabric yardages calculated for you and when you see yardage amounts — they are estimates!

For the new quilter this may present a challenge and you have several choices. To buy a commercial pattern that gives yardage amounts rather than using the free instructions here, to use a software program like EQ7 that gives you estimates, to buy and learn to use a fabric calculator, to use an online fabric calculator (google it!), use a regular calculator, or do like I do and make scrappy quilts — this allows you to continue to pull fabric off the shelve until you are finished making blocks.

Calculating fabric yardages is a useful skill to learn unless you plan to always use a commercial pattern and to never  deviate from the size in the pattern.

This website exists to share brief cutting instructions for the quilts I design and make with readers of my blog and the quilters involved with HeartStrings that are making and donating quilts.

I’m thrilled that it’s become a resource for free patterns for other quilters but it has never been my desire to write and sell commercial patterns. Fabric yardages are not available if estimates are not already noted, and unfortunately I am too busy with my own quilting to adapt the size of the quilts in the instructions to your individual needs.

I hope you find the instructions useful and if there is something in them you don’t understand I’m happy to try and explain it more fully or refer you to another site with more detailed instructions. I can be reached by email at mmcjohnson@gmail.com

8 thoughts on “Calculating Fabric Yardages”

  1. Robert

    Hi. I love your site and quilts.
    I am thinking of making a Roman Stripe but I would be using a cream color for the area that is almost always done in black, with varying degrees of greens and blues as my stripes. They are all StonHenge fabrics. I chose these colors from an Aegean wall platter my parents picked up in Italy or Greece. Okay now; Is it going to work with the colors I have in mind? Thanks, Robert

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  2. Lidka

    Good day. I’d like to see on your blog MaryQuilts.com. But getting a message that the site is only open to invited readers. It can make me your site? Thank you very much, Lidka Krsková from Czech Republic.

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  4. Mary

    I was looking for a pillow case pattern and came across your site. I am just a beginner quilter so this is helpful to see all the different patterns. Thank you for your sharing and caring. God Bless you.

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  8. Jodie Gurka

    your site is wonderful, as for learning how to calculate fabric, its a challenge that I plan to answer soon, I really like the Fish pattern.
    But very important is you have references to AccuQuilt Go which I use when needed due to achy hands.
    Thank you for putting some challenges out there

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