Final size depends on - what it's for - how much fabric is available - and how it looks.

Ditto! EQ is great for that!

I've posted on this quilt top before. It's been a trial. I work on it and put it away, then get it out again. Like I said, I bought it in an estate sale in pieces. (1st and 2nd photo) I took apart the extra pieces into strips, so that I could attach those pieces to the main part. I had some fabric in my stash (also from estate sales) that would blend well enough to add a couple of extra strips.

I plan to add solid borders. I'm also going to audition a border of 1/2 size rectangles alternated with white with a white strip on both sides. If I don't do that, I will try a border of white with white eyelet lace on it. Otherwise, I'm doing red, white and blue borders, not necessarily in that order. (This quilt just screams white eyelet to me, but then it becomes totally feminine.)

I think it needs about a foot removed from the top or bottom or a combination thereof.

It's also not square, so I have to figure that out, too.

bkay

I think your plan to take a foot off the length sounds right. Visually I also like picture frame proportions, approximately.

What an adventure you've had. I agree that it does seem too long. After all that work you don't want to lose those rows so I would take them off the front to make the overall size more pleasing and use those left over pieces in your backing.

I hope you're making this for yourself to cuddle up with. After all the planning and work involved you deserve it.

I have Ginny Beyer's Golden Ratio ruler, she has good info about this on her website. It doesn't deal with the overall size of a quilt, but elements in the quilt, especially borders-which is what I use it for-helpful to me as it is quick and I'm not Math oriented, but the information is very helpful on it's own.

I agree, make it the size you want. :sew:

1: 1.6 is always going to come out long and skinny. I don't think it works for quilts. I just 'eyeball' mine and make them the size that feels right to me.

If you want to keep the length, maybe add a couple of borders on the sides, followed by one skinny solid one all the way around. Once you've done all that piecing, I hate to see you take anything off.

In your picture it looks 'square' enough. I wouldn't obsess with getting it perfectly square as long as it looks square to the eye.

Looks like a fantastic 4th of July picnic quilt. Good luck!

I agree with this statement. I did not know about a "perfect" proportion. I made a lap quilt that looked right "for me" and it mesures 46 x 62 but I don't feel it confortable when I use it. Therefore I am presently making one that is 46 x 76. And yes it will look kind of skinny but when I won't be using it, it will be folded in 2, and placed either on the back of the couch or folded and placed on the arm of the couch. It will then look "perfectly" proportioned loll
if not, it will certainly be more comfortable to use.

The magic ratio or Golden Mean is the relationship of the length to the width. Picture frames were mentioned by several people here. Think: 3 X 5, 4 X 6, 5 X 7, 10 X 14 etc. A neighbor made a quilt that was much longer than it should of been for its width. It sure looked funny to me. It was donated, so I hope some tall skinny person got it.Lol