Understanding Fabric Requirements....
 

As someone who is new to quilting using patterns, I am trying to understand fabric requirements. I bought a quilt pattern today that says to buy 14 1/2 yards of fabric for a quilt top that is 68" x 90". I can't imagine why I would need so much fabric. This is for the quilt top only and does not include the backing.

Can anyone explain this?

Are you sure it doesn't mean 7 yards? ( 14 1/2 yard pieces). That sounds more like it.
Welcome to the board :)

Thanks Susie... No, when I add all the yardage it adds up to 14 1/2. Is it normal for pattens to require so much fabric?

most do list enough in case of"oops"--but that seems too much still.

Does it have a lot of very small patches?

Is this a paper piecing pattern? They can take almost twice as much as normal piecing. If you could give us the name of the pattern and a link to it on the internet, maybe we can look at it and see if 14.5 yards seems right.

It would be helpful to have the pattern name for reference. I too can see using 14 individual 1/2 yards, but not 14 1/2 yards of fabric. Surely the backing material wasn't added in to your calculations???

A 68x90 quilt top could take as much as 6 yards of fabric. Really hope this wasn't added into the calculations.

What is the pattern? Who is the designer? I have seen along the way that some patterns can require up to 2x's as much as you would thing depending on the continuous print on the fabric or the complexity of the pattern. Some designer's patterns do require much more fabric that you would thing. But do so to get the fantastic results you see on the outside of the package.

Could it mean 14 one half yards?