Help please How much fabric?
 

I need to know how many 2.5x3.5 pieces I can get from say a yard of 40" fabric. I am making a periwinkle quilt from pieces my aunt cut out. I need to purchase this for the rectangles on each side of the periwinkle piece. I have purchased the small periwinkle template from msqc to recut each piece so they will fit together nicely.

From each 3.5 inch piece, you could cut 16 2.5x3.5 pieces.
You could do that 10 times with 36" of fabric
So 16 x 10 = 160 pieces.

I always like to have more fabric than I should need. Mistakes do happen.

I always get more than I think I need. It only takes one crosscut that's 1/2 inch too short to mess up plans. Murphey's law says they will be out of that fabric when I go back to purchase more. Better to have leftovers than not enough.

how large is the quilt you are planning. Depending on the size it will tell how much you need to cut to achieve. I also add at least an extra 1/2 yd Incase of errors.

Another question about yardage
 

One last question. I am trying to make sure I have enough fabric to make sure it all matches but this sounds like an awful lot of fabric. I have these calculations: finished block is 5" square, has 4 periwinkles which takes 8 - 2.5 x 3.5 background pieces.

I have 1024 periwinkles, these need 2 backgrounds pieces each (the 2.5x3.5 piece). That figures to 2048 background 2.5x3.5 pieces.

When I did my original figures I came up with 143 sections per yard of 40" fabric.. Which comes out to 14.32 yards. This just seemed like so much fabric in a quilt top. I just made me unsure of myself and my math. Plus I always want to buy some extra so I just kicked it up to think about 16 or 17 yards.

Is this amount 14.32 yards for real, that is intimidating. Thanks in advance for all comments.

Oh my aunt was about 95-98 years old when she passed and I was not gifted these until about 2.5 years ago. My cousin remembered being under the quilting frame when she went to the quilting club she belonged to when he was about 5-7 pushing the needles back up to them. WOW.

umm...yes it does sound like it could be right...you did not say the size of the finished quilt....but I just took a quick look at Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt for this year....and for a 90 X 90 quilt, she is saying we should have about 13.5 yards of fabric for it...of course how much is needed also depends on the size of the pieces as much fabric can be used up just for the seams...I like getting more than I need too...just in case....and I love adding to my stash. It takes 9-10 yards of backing for a king sized quilt...which I am always amazed at...and it will always take more for the top if you are doing any piecing at all.

If you interlock your triangle cuts, you'll get a lot more per wof, and that will cut down a lot on waste and yardage needed. The way you have it figured, you'll have 40-50% waste, that would not be acceptable to me.

I'm not sure how you came up with 2.5x3.5 rectagles, seems to me that you can get two out of a 3.5*3 rectangle.

This is what it says to use 2.5x3.5 pieces according to Missouri star quilt company video for this template. I do not know what size triangles to use I have purchased the mini periwinkle template from msqc.