Welcome to week 1 of the 36 patch quilt along! I'm excited that so many of you plan on quilting along with me! Today we will be talking about fabric requirements. For this quilt I'm "shopping" from my stash. I'm using fat quarters and other pieces of various sizes. There will be no sashing in this quilt. (Can you believe it???)
Each individual block finishes at 12" square. Each block requires two contrasting fabrics. Think about contrast when you are choosing your fabrics, and pick your fabric in pairs for each block. Pick one light value fabric and one medium value fabric. Or pick one medium value fabric and one dark value fabric. Or pick one light value fabric and one dark value fabric. I think you get the idea. :)
Like I said earlier, I'm using fat quarters, but there will be plenty of leftovers. Each fabric piece that you choose should be at least 8" x 18". Fat eighths would be perfect for this, actually, as fat eighths are typically cut 9" x 22".
Now, on to specific quilt sizes.....
Baby size=36" x 48" will require 12 pieced blocks.
This quilt will require 24 different fabrics.
Lap size=60" x 72" will require 30 pieced blocks.
This quilt will require 60 different fabrics.
Square lap size=72" x 72" will require 36 pieced blocks.
This quilt will require 72 different fabrics.
Skinny twin quilt**=60" x 84" will require 35 pieced blocks.
This quilt will require 70 different fabrics.
Extra wide twin**=72" x 84" will require 42 pieced blocks.
This quilt will require 84 different fabrics.
Queen size quilt=84" x 96" will require 56 pieced blocks.
This quilt will require 112 different fabrics.
King size quilt= 108" x 96" will require 72 pieced blocks.
This quilt will require 144 different fabrics.
Personally, I'll be making the square lap version. So, I'll be making a 36 patch quilt out of 36 patches! (Thanks Cindy for the affirmation that this was the way to go.)
72 different fabrics may sound like a lot, but it really isn't that bad. Now, if you are making a king size and you are trying to round up 144 unique fabrics, you MAY want to consider repeating a few here and there. Or maybe you don't need to. I'm not here to judge. :)
**My typical twin size quilt is about 63" x 88". Since I am working with 12" blocks for this quilt along, that isn't quite possible, so the twin size measurements are a bit out of the norm. The lengths are a little shorter than normal which is typically ok, especially if your twin bed has a foot board. As far as width goes, choose a skinny twin if you would rather have less overhang on the sides and an extra wide twin if you would want more overhang on the sides. You may want to measure the mattress you are fitting just to be sure.
Next week I plan to share a tutorial for the block construction.
Any questions? I know that's a whole lot of math, and I'm trying to recuperate from the retreat this past weekend, so if you see any errors, please let me know! For those of you quilting along, do you know what size you want to make? I'd be curious to know.
Happy Monday to you!