EQ usually estimates more fabric than i need to make the quilts i've designed using that software.

i think if you follow their cutting instructions exactly, it might consume their estimated yardage. i can't say for sure because i always stare at the fabric until i figure out how to get as much from it as possible and then cut it my own way.

I know EQ6 does... I think it makes a square or rectangle out of every piece and figures that piece as the required yardage, so for eg if you needed HSTs, it would figure a complete square for each one rather than you can get two from a square. Hope that makes sense.

I designed my avatar in EQ and then made it up as a pattern to sell so had to work out exact yardage for that and EQ had over-estimated in total I think by 2-3 yards. :shock: :D

I don't mind if it's for myself and I'm buying the fabric for the project - call it stash building :mrgreen: But it is annoying if you want to use stash and you're a bit short on fabric, then I figure everything out myself to see if I've got enough. :-D

That's exactly EQ calculates it.

So if your quilt is just a bunch of squares/rectangles, the estimate will be pretty close. Any other shapes, and it will overestimate the yardage. I rarely use that feature.

Yes and sometimes by a very long way. I designed a quilt for a King sized bed and it wanted me to buy nearly 30 yards of fabric. I only used 3 colours and the blocks were made up of 1.5" HSt's......... so where did 30 yards come into it??? :lol:

Was the actual requirement half of that, ie 15 yards? As I said, EQ calculates a square for every triangle, not that you can get two from one square. Hopefully they'll update this at some point or perhaps give two yardage options - one like this and one exact. :-D

WAIT!!! doesn't overestimating fabric mean we buy more fabric than we need for a project and then we have leftovers which we can add to our stash?

Have I been doing it wrong all these years? :)

EQ will also calculate the border fabrics being cut lenthwise as a single piece. So, a 4" border around a 60" x 80" quilt would require 2 1/4 yds. of fabric just for the border. Piece the same border by cutting the fabric crosswise and you need less than 1 yd. of fabric. Quite a big difference, if you have multiple borders in you quilt design.

I have found it's not only EQ that does that, but several patterns that I have purchased have called for far more fabric than needed. Especially BOMs....it seems like they way overestimate!! I do a rough calculation of what is needed for the size of quilt I want and reduce my purchase to approx that amount. It's the incremental reductions that are the most difficult...how much of fab A, Fab B, etc. I try to stick to a percentage of each, say 10%, 20%....