Help a Newbie :/
 

So I really want to make my husband a rag quilt for Christmas with his fav baseball team fabric. My friend is suggesting using fleece on the inside for batting and cotton on the outside which would work great because my husband does not really like fleece. (I know that is hard for me to accept too)

I found this sites instructions: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Quilting-...t-Patterns.htm
and read that she said that the size of your quilt must be divisible by your length and width. Since my husb is a big guy I decided to go with this info:

• 72x63 & use 9" blocks.
• 1/2 inch seam around so I would need to cut 10" blocks
• I want to use 5 diff cotton fabrics total.

I calculated it would be 8 blocks x 7 blocks. Is that right?? If so can anyone pleaaaase help me figure out how much fabric of each 5 pattern I need & how much total fleece I need to use as batting. If I'm doing something wrong please help me. I want to buy the pattern soon and I've read the rest of the instruction and have a friend who will help me put it together but she needs me to figure out the fabric on my own. I don't want to buy too much because the fabric for his team is out of print and its $20-$35 per fat quarter (Yes I know that is insane *cries*) so I DEFF want to have enough to finish but not too much to where I have a lot of extra. If anyone knows and can verify if someone answers if that is correct I would feel a lot less calm. This part makes me nervous.

Thank you SOO much for helping a new girl! :)

did you check ebay for the fabric? sometimes you can get out of print reasonable...

Yep. It's been out of print for about 10 years. :( I found some to buy, I just don't know how much of each print since I'll be doing 5 patterns.

Hi
I am not very good at it but did you have a look at this?
http://www.quiltingboard.com/resources/article-32.html

http://quilting.about.com/od/stepbys...late_yards.htm

10" blocks from fat quarters is NOT good. FQs are 18" x22" in the US - so you only get 2 10" blocks and you have a strip 8x20 left over :( How about adjusting your sizes, and using 9" unfinished? Then you get 4 blocks per FQ?

For what you have planned, you need 56 blocks - so that's 11 of each colour (plus 1 extra from one of the colours). Cutting from yardage, you get 4 blocks per 10" strip - so 30" of each fabric would do. But as I said, if you are buying FQs, you are going to need 27 of them in total.

If you use 8" finished blocks, you could make the quilt 64x72. That's 8 blocks by 9 blocks. So 72 blocks required. Cut 4 9" blocks from each FQ, and you need a total of 18 FQ to make the quilt. From yardage, that would be 5 blocks per strip, 3 strips of each colour, so 24" of each fabric.

Make sure if you buy yardage you add 3-4" for shrinkage and straightening the edges!

Hope this helps.

Well the main fabric I want to use (which is the team fabric) ...most of the sellers sell it by the FQ. One lady had it listed for 14 1/2 x 12" for $20. Another person: 1 FQ for $30 & the 3rd person: 9x28 for $35 so I think the FQ price is the cheapest. ALTHOUGH she said if you buy 4 FQ you would get it uncut (4 fat quarters = 1 yard (36" x 56")) is what she has on her page. So I can technically buy yardage.

I don't min using 8" finished blocks. I was just trying to do the math simple and have a bigger quilt than 50" So I can deff go with these measurements if you don't mind helping me figure out exactly what to buy??

So from my understanding: Quilt size: 64 x72 which will be 8 blocks x 9 blocks. 72 total blocks needed by cutting 4 9" blocks from each FQ.

A few questions:... and THANK YOU for bearing with me while I learn!!!

• Is it better to buy from yardage or FQ in this case?? (btw the mlb fabric they are selling is new/unwashed)
• If I'm using 5 prints (Team print, 2 plain colors, baseballs print, mitts print) and if I need 18 FQ's ... this is not divisable by 5 how do I know how many of each to get? Do I just get more of 1 of them? If so I'd like to do the team one.
• I'd honestly just rather buy the FQ online of the mlb print itself and then yardage of the other to make it easier (assuming that is easier?) yet I still don't know how much of the other 4 to get in yardage?
• I did find 1 other fabric I like when seraching that was only 1 yard total but I emailed her to see if she has the name of the print for me.
• SO ... how much do I need for the plain prints total & how much do I need for the prints if I get them in A. FQ's or B. how much yardage would I need if I found it in yardage?
• Also is it ok to use flannel in the middle? A friend was saying to get flannel for the inside batting and the back too. So do I need batting and flannel? If so how much? I've left her a message but haven't heard from her yet. My husband doesnt like flannel too much so if I can use cotton on the back I think he'd like that better. If not I can use flannel.

Thank you again SO much for helping me. I swear I'm not stupid, just trying to get a good understanding of what I need.

There is very little waste in the FQ, so it doesn't make too much difference, if you are using the 8" finished block size. If she says 4 FQ = 1 yard, make sure that if you need less than a yard you know what you are getting (ie, 24" may not be a quantity she'd sell as yardage)

Exactly. Pick one you like, and buy more of it. 18 FQs - so you buy 3 of each, and then pick 3 more FQ - any of the patterns. Could be 3 different ones, or 3 of the same. You may want to sketch it out to see what looks better. 6 FQ of the team is nice, but you'll end up with a majority of that print. If you like the look, go for it. Splitting it more evenly across all prints would create a more random layout probably.

Let's see. If you buy 4 FQ of the MLB print, then you still need the equivalent of 14 FQ, or 131" of fabric split across your other prints. (I see I made an oops above. You get 4 blocks from each 9" strip of fabric, same number as you get from a FQ).

Maybe this is easier: you need 18 "pieces" A "piece" is either a FQ, or a piece of yardage 9" in length. Split that up however you like between your fabrics. Let's say, for example, 4 pieces of the MLB, 4 pieces of each of 2 others, and 3 pieces of the final 2. Then you need 4 FQ of the MLB, 1 yard each of 2 fabrics (9"x4= 36"=1yard) and 3/4 yard each of the last 2 fabrics. If you add another fabric, you can adjust the numbers as you like, just so you end up with the same total.


It depends how warm you want it. cotton-flannel-cotton (top and bottom cotton, and using flannel for the batting) would work fine. It won't be a super warm quilt, because I don't think flannel is that warm. Earlier you said fleece - which in my mind is different from flannel. I'm picturing polar fleece - fuzzy, warm, doesn't ravel. Would make a warm quilt, but I don't know how well it would "rag" for this pattern. I have used fleece in place of batting in the past - I found it a bit stiffer than I expected, but it wasn't very good quality fleece that I used.


Just to add some more confusion :)
If the fabric is really 56" wide (that is wider than most quilting cottons), then you get more squares from a yard of the MLB than you would from the 4 FQs, and it may be worth buying the extra there. But you'd want to be sure that measurement is correct. 56" would get you 6 blocks per 9" strip. So a yard of the MLB would be 24 blocks, and you'd only need another 48 blocks (12 from each of 4 fabrics.) That 3/4 yard of each, or 3 FQ of each.


Editted to add:

Just saw your question about backing & batting. You have a 64x72" quilt, so you need 140" of whatever fabric you use for backing (you'll cut it in half and piece it to form the back). And you need a quilt batt at least 70x80" - or another 140" of flannel to piece for the batting if you go that way.

Thank you SO much for explaining everything. I did mean flannel. Sorry I was confusing there. I kept finding fleece online so I just typed the wrong thing. I'm so busy at work today that I want to comb over everything you said when I don't have as many distractions (I work in HR so it's always crazy!) I do have one question off the top of my head though, you said 140" of the backing. Does that mean about 4 yards? (since 140" / 30" in a yard = 3.8)

I assume you're not thinking a bed quilt. 64X72 is a small twin - not a good size for a large man.

If you can't find/afford the team fabric .... why not just make a quilt using the TEAM COLORS??? That would at least represent *his* fav team!!!

Using flannel as your middle layer would be good, as you can cut it the same size as your front/back blocks, and then ALL the layers rag up nicely.

jody