I think it depends on the number of colors or different fabrics you like to use in a quilt. For me, as I like lots of different colors/fabrics one yard is more than enough of any one fabric. It depends too on how you like to do your borders... I like to do a lot of piecing with lots of colors/fabric for borders .. so it really depends on your style and size . If you are a quilter that likes a wide border of one fabric for a bed size quilt ... then I would suggest no less than 3 yards, 5 yards if you want to include the border fabric in the main body of the quilt.