I had two yards of each fabric, which is what I normally buy. I believe it took about 1 1/4 yards each by the time I fiddled around with the placement of each. Some shades I took out and replaced with others, some I just moved around. Keep in mind that your darkest must be very dark and your lightest very light tone on tones. I mixed batiks and cottons, but all were not tone on tone. I learned that from making bargellos - that you want some fabrics that are really strong to give the quilt interest. And when my husband decided on my first group of eight fabrics, there was too much delineation between the lights and darks. I had to walk a fine line between too much contrast and not enough contrast which made it look like mush! Please keep asking more questions because now more than ever I believe it has taken all of us to get this quilt finished. And yes, I chose the pattern and the fabrics with my son in mind. He has always been a big supporter of my sewing and always loved 3-D designs.