I'm agreeing with Dunster that it was traditionally done as a carry along project/by-hand. I've seen many made by a mom in the background while some sort of game or practice was going on with the kids in the foreground.
It once was on my bucket list, it is now at "yeah, never gonna happen". I do have a couple of fun old late 70s/early80s books on techniques and setting ideas.
As for the yardage, you are doing front/back all at the same time. Consider minimum it takes 6 yards to make a back and 10-12 yards for the average top -- it's not so bad Goal was to use up your tiny scraps and just buy the main yardage (usually solid).