Boy do I need help!!
 

I know I am in good hands here on this board. I need help figuring out how much fabric I need. I have a quilt top that is 76 inches long, 62 inches wide. I want to add fabric to the sides and bottom with a 16 inch measurement. I want to make it like this: A brown 6 inch stripe, then a 4 inch white stripe and finish with a 6 inch brown stripe. How much fabric of each do I need? Please tell me how to figure this. Any question that I have not covered, let me know. Thanks everyone.

Here are some questions.

Do you need to minimize fabric purchase by piecing the border strips? It's a lot easier to calculate the yardage if you can simply purchase enough yardage to match the longest measurements.

Are the 16-inch, 6-inch, 4-inch and 6-inch specifications finished sizes? (I would assume so.)
Do you plan to miter the corners of the borders? (I would not.)
Do you plan on adding the border strip to the longest edges first? (This is what I would do.)

76+ 76= 152...62+ 62= 124 add 152 + 124= 276 add 12 = 288... hope this helps

More questions: Are the two brown borders to be of the same fabric - or two different ones?
Do the fabrics have any design factors that need to be considered? directional, for example.

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Here are my calculations, assuming that you can buy enough yardage so you do not have to piece the borders. (In other words, you would be cutting each strip along the selvedge edge rather than our more common cutting of width-wise strips.) This is assuming that by "stripe" you actually mean border. If by "stripe" you mean "striped fabric" then I am assuming that you want the fabric strips running parallel to the quilt edges.

I am also assuming that your 76 inches by 62 inches are exact measurements of your quilt top (which means that these measurements include enough for a seam allowance).

First 6-inch brown border requires:
2 strips that are 6.5" wide and 76" long
2 strips that are 6.5" wide and (62 + 6.25 + 6.25)" long = 74.5" long

Second 4-inch white stripe border requires:
2 strips that are 4.5" wide and (76 + 6.25 + 6.25)" long = 88.5"
2 strips that are 4.5" wide and (62+6.25+6.25+4.25+4.25)" long = 83"

Third 6-inch brown stripe border requires:
2 strips that are 6.5" wide and (76+6.25+6.25+4.25+4.25)" long = 87"
2 strips that are 6.5" wide and (62+6.25+6.25+4.25+4.25+6.25+6.25)" long = 95.5"

95.5" equals about 2-3/4 yards of fabric. Unfortunately, you need 8 strips that are 6.5" wide which equals 52" and quilting fabric is at most 42". To not have to piece the brown borders, you would need to purchase 5.5 yards of fabric and you would have quite a bit left over.

The white fabric would require 88.5" in length, which would be about 2.5 yards if you don't piece.

It's an interesting challenge now to work out how to minimize the yardage requirements. I may have some time to do that later. (And *hopefully* my calculations above are correct. Perhaps someone else can check them and correct any mistakes. It's a little hard to scroll around in this small reply box to make sure I have not made a really stupid error.)

I gave you garbage numbers - and it won't let me delete!!!!

Use my drawing - and most of Prism's numbers!!! I ended up with 96.5 (76 + 8 + 12.5) for the last side border and 94.5 for the last top border (62 + 12 + 8 + 12.5)

I also ended up with 5.5 yards with the recalculation for the brown - and 2.5 yards for the white. (96.5 inches + 94.5 inches = 5.3 yards) Get a bit extra to allow for shrinkage and possibly wonky ends.

So - whether 62 x 76 is the actual size or the 'finished' size - these numbers are pretty close

I realized I had bad numbers after I saw Prism's post - maybe between us we can get it right?

Well, my numbers are a little off too. They work out more correctly if you drop all of the .25's from my equations. I am too lazy to repost all those equations with the real corrections; maybe later if I get some quilting done tonight and need a break! In any case, our yardage requirements come out the same if the borders are not pieced.

If the actual size of the top is 62 x 76 - I think the numbers on my second drawing are correct. I ALWAYS try to buy a bit extra to allow for shrinkage and wonkiness.

I try to avoid width of fabric (WOF) cutting for borders - but this is not my project. Also - remember that MANY fabrics have only 40-42 inches of usable width.

(But it's late - maybe someone can come along and check it out again!)

I use graph paper - This usually works well when I put the correct numbers in the correct places!

For me, drawing/drafting something helps me 'think' better about it.

Now for the challenge of cutting those strips out of the least amount of fabric.

Here's how I would calculate for the brown fabric. You need approximately this amount of length in 6.5" strips:
(2x76") + (2x74") + (2x87")+(2x95") = approximately 670" = (670/36") = 18.62 yards of fabric.
However, you can get 6 strips out of one width (42"/6.5") = 6 strips of 6.5" inches each.
So, in order to get enough length for all of the 6.5" strips, you need (670" / 6 strips per width) = 112" = 3.12 yards.
You probably want to add a little bit of length to the strips to allow you to make diagonal joins in the borders, so you probably want to add some extra fabric for that. My minimum purchase of the brown fabric would be 3.5 yards (4 yards if you are going to pre-wash and need extra in case of shrinkage).

For the white fabric, you need approximately the following total length of 4.5" strips:
(2x88") + (2x83") = 342"
You can get at least 8 strips that are 4.5" from one width of fabric:
(40"/4.5) = 8
and possibly 9 strips (42"/4.5) = 9
I would go conservative and count on 8 strips per width of fabric.
342" / 8 = 43" to get the minimum length needed of 4.5" strips
43"/36 = 1.2 yards
You need a little extra for diagonal joins, so I would purchase 1.5 yards of the white fabric (expecting some to be left over).

That's my best estimate of yardages so far.

What I would do with the yardage is first cut it all into strips of the correct width. I would join 2 widths as necessary to get enough for each border as I went, paying attention to where the joins are falling. You could probably rough-out all the borders this way, laying them out as you go, to make sure that the joins are going to fall where you want them. Once you get that done, you can measure the quilt and cut the first two border pieces to correct length (***very*** important to measure, cut and pin before sewing each border, especially multiple borders, to keep the quilt top flat and the edges unwavy), sew them on, iron seams flat, measure the quilt in the other direction, cut the next pair of border strips to length, pin and sew, etc.

WOW, thanks everyone. I will try to get on this and when finished, post a picture. So glad I asked this question. You guys are great. :thumbup:

The longer yardages are for if you want/can avoid joins/seams in each border strip. Which is my preference when I'm able to do so -

But many times one has to improvise/piece a border for various reasons:
Only so much of the wanted fabric is available
Only so much money to buy the wanted fabric is available
The design of the print makes one direction more appealing than the other

Good luck.

I'm a wash before cutting person. I've found that most fabrics shrink - but I never know ahead of time if it will be lengthwise, crosswise, or both ways. So I always try to have a bit 'extra' to allow for that - and as Prism said - if you do the diagonal seams for the joins - that also uses a bit more fabric.

1 1/2 yards first brown stripe, 1 yard white stripe, 1 3/4 yd. second brown stripe. I added just a little for "just in case".

UuuhWeeee, giving me a headache! Gotta get more COFFEE!

1st 6 inch border = 1 1/2 yds cut 6.5 inch stips , cutting 8 strips
2nd 4 inch border = 1 yard cut 4.5 inch strips, cutting 8 strips
3rd 6 inch border = 1 5/8 yds cut 6.5 inch strips, cutting 8 strips

i tunes has this great App by RKaufman Fabrics called QuiltCal - it is a lifesaver!!

I'm pretty sure the yardages above would require straight joins for the border strips, which can work fine for many fabrics. Diagonal joins take up extra length in the strips, which is why my yardage calculations were a little larger.

These yardages would work if the strips are cut width of fabric - and the joins would be 'wherever' - which may or may not matter to you

Draw it out on graph paper and see what will work with the fabric(s) you plan to use.

Also - be sure you check out the width of the fabric(s) you plan to use if you choose to go the width of fabric route. And if you plan to miter the joins or butt the joins.

These yardages would work if the strips are cut width of fabric - and the joins would be 'wherever' - which may or may not matter to you

Draw it out on graph paper and see what will work with the fabric(s) you plan to use.

Those amounts leave NO wiggle room, nor do they allow for shrinkage or wonkiness.

I have a handy dandy App for my IPhone called QuiltCalc by Robert Kaufman. It came up with: 1st border-1 1/3 yds (7 strips @ 6 1/2 inches), 2nd border- 1 yd (8 strips @ 4 1/2 inches), 3rd border - 1 5/8 yd (9 strips @ 6 1/2 inches). I hope this helps.

I have a 60% off coupon for Joannes. I think I will go there today and see what I can buy. Thanks EVERYONE for all your great advice. I really, really appreciate it. Pics to follow-(someday). LOL