When reading a pattern and looking at the fabric requirements alot of them will say like; assorted light/medium (insert color) prints 2 3/8 - 2 3/4 yards total.
It may do this for a number of the colors of fabics needed for the quit top. But it doesn't say how many assorted fabrics or how to divide the yardage up.
Do you just decide how many assort. fabrics you want to use then divide the yardage by that number?
Does that make sence to anyone? Thanks for any insight.

That would be my interpretation. Can you tell how many colors were used in the quilt pictured with the pattern?

That's the fun of scrappy quilts - decide what colors you like best, that fit the color needed, and just make sure all of them together total the amount listed on the pattern. Sometimes, it's easier to pick a bunch of fabrics, and make sure there's lots extra - just pick colors as you go, favorites first, until the quilt is done. Nothing has to be exact, as far as picking fabrics goes... just make sure you have the right colors, and enough of them. Hope that makes some kind of sense.... it did in my brain, but that doesn't always mean much....

Yes you can do it that way. Or, you can just get fabrics that appeal to you and that fill the patterns needs and decide which one to use as you go along. You may end up with left over fabric, but that's what a stash is all about.

Directions like that do leave a lot of room to interpret them as you wish. When I see them, I just grab my scrap bin of the color in question and grab a handful (or three!). I made a red, white and black quilt once -- my friends's (recipients of the quilt) counted over 100 different red fabrics, and that was on a full sized quilt.

That is a good idea. It would eat up some of the scraps to.

I haven't noticed any directions like that. The ones I've used has said how much of each color to use. I would shy away from a pattern that didn't tell me how many fabrics and pieces I would need.

It tells you peices, it just doesn't give you exact number of fabrics to use of the assorted colored prints. These are magazine patterns and some of the quilt layouts are easy to figure the # of prints they used. Other not so easy.

They say that because it doesn't matter how many different prints you use. If you only have three add them up to the required amount. Have 10? Add them up to the required amount. Each fabric doesn't have to be the same amount either. You can use three third of a yard cuts, plus five quarter yard cuts and one half yard cut.

Patterns like that are trying to stretch your creativity. They're also trying to get you away from recreating the pictured quilt exactly.

Not trying to recreate the pictured quilt, my skills are not that advanced, I just wasn't sure if that is what they were suggesting. It makes sence though that they would want you to use your own creativity or the amount of prints you choose to create your own unique quilt.