Thread: How much would you buy?

I am planning a trip to visit my daughter! Last year i found a great fabric shop with excellent prices(I bought 23 meters of fabric for about 60.00). But I found I didn't buy enough of some of the prints to do a quilt. how much of each pattern would you buy when you don't have a design in mind?

It depends on what size quilts you are prone to makeing. I try to take some "someday" patterns with me when going to a fabric sale. If no pattern, I usually get 3 yds. of main fabric & 1 yds. of co ordinating fabrics. I don't make very large quilts.

Originally Posted by donnajean

It depends on what size quilts you are prone to makeing. I try to take some "someday" patterns with me when going to a fabric sale. If no pattern, I usually get 3 yds. of main fabric & 1 yds. of co ordinating fabrics. I don't make very large quilts.

These amounts are a good guide line, ithat is was I was told by my first quilting instructor. Over the years I've found that to be on the safe side I should add buy 3 1/2 yds and 1 1/4 yds just in case of cutting mistakes. Leftover are great for making scrappy quilts. May in Jersey

I do not have a rule of thumb for buying beautiful fabric. I think I am an emotional buyer. Although, I usually make scrappy quilts so I do not need so much yardage of any one fabric. I do however always look for yardage for back fabrics, then I buy about 6 or 7 yards.

Originally Posted by donnajean

It depends on what size quilts you are prone to makeing. I try to take some "someday" patterns with me when going to a fabric sale. If no pattern, I usually get 3 yds. of main fabric & 1 yds. of co ordinating fabrics. I don't make very large quilts.

this is what i do as well

Originally Posted by donnajean

It depends on what size quilts you are prone to makeing. I try to take some "someday" patterns with me when going to a fabric sale. If no pattern, I usually get 3 yds. of main fabric & 1 yds. of co ordinating fabrics. I don't make very large quilts.

I might raise that to 4 yd/meter of main color and at least a yard of coordinating

ON THE OTHER HAND-----------I might concentrate on the main print I wanted and buy the matching fabrics locally.

If you use fat quarters, jelly rolls and such, find a few bundles that seem to go together well. Wait to finish up later.

SO glad this question was asked. I found some great deals on vacation this year and wasn't sure how much to buy b/c I didn't have a project in mind. I ended up with 1 yr of each of the 6 fabrics I bought.

3 yards sounds good, but your total purchase should be a little more than the size of the quilt you want to make. I buy at least a 1/2 yd more of each piece I want to use, I don`t live to close to a store. You can always make a scrappy quilt with the leftovers, but I`t hard to find what you need some time later.

I usually do controlled scrappy quilts so I buy 1/2 to 3 yards of fabrics I like. And most quilts I make are queen size. I usually assume I need about 8 yards for queen size. How I divide that up depends on the fabrics and the pattern I will use.

I usually buy 4 yards of one kind and possibley 1-2 yards of matching print to go with it