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need help enlarging a pattern

need help enlarging a pattern

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Old 07-28-2013, 09:05 AM
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Default need help enlarging a pattern

HI everyone,

I am working on a quilt for my daughter for her upcoming wedding. They are getting married in October, so my time is limited. I am using the Timberline pattern from McCall's quilting October 1997. I wish I had a scanner so I could take a picture of the quilt so you could see what it looks like. The original pattern is 56 1/2" x 68 1/2". I am making this to fit on a queen size bed, so I need it 88" x 90". It is made up of a Sawtooth variation and a Star in a Star pattern. It has me make 6 of each. I figured to get the size I need, I need 21 of each of the blocks. Do I just times what it tells me to buy originally by 4 (gives me enough to make 24 blocks which I will use for some pillow shams), and will that give me enough for the blocks?

I can figure out what I need for the borders as I am enlarging them a bit, but I can picture those in my mind.

I don't want to buy a ton of extra fabric, as money is a bit tight right now. I hope someone can answer me soon as I was hoping to be able to take them shopping tomorrow night to choose their fabric.

Thanks
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Old 07-28-2013, 11:00 AM
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In general, yes, buying 4 times as much fabric should allow you to make 4 times as many blocks. Actually, it might be more fabric than you need because with uncut fabric you may be able to make a little better use of the yardage, plus magazines are often generous with their estimates. However, I would still get 4 times as much as you certainly don't want to run out at the very end!
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Old 07-28-2013, 11:50 AM
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you are not quite doubling the size. I can't see why that would take four times the amount of fabric recommended.
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Old 07-28-2013, 11:55 AM
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Originally Posted by nativetexan View Post
you are not quite doubling the size. I can't see why that would take four times the amount of fabric recommended.

Texan, you are forgetting that when you make something twice a long and twice as wide you are ending up with 4 times the surface area.
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Old 07-28-2013, 01:31 PM
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But she is not doubling the length and width. Her surface area is just about doubling. The original quilt is 3870 square inches, the bigger one is 7920.
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Old 07-28-2013, 03:41 PM
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Wow, that sounds huge!!
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Old 07-28-2013, 03:57 PM
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Originally Posted by hsquiltingmom View Post
The original pattern is 56 1/2" x 68 1/2". I am making this to fit on a queen size bed, so I need it 88" x 90". It is made up of a Sawtooth variation and a Star in a Star pattern. It has me make 6 of each. I figured to get the size I need, I need 21 of each of the blocks. Do I just times what it tells me to buy originally by 4 (gives me enough to make 24 blocks which I will use for some pillow shams), and will that give me enough for the blocks?
Oops. The original pattern is 6 blocks *each* of two different blocks, making 12 blocks. If you need 24 blocks to get the size you want, then you need to buy 2 times as much fabric, not 4 times!
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Old 07-28-2013, 04:04 PM
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7920/3871 =2.05

So the area is just a bit more than doubled. If you purchased 2.5 times of the original amount suggested, you should have ample yardage.

You could probably get by with 2.25 times the original amount. I would hesitate to only double the amount - it would not allow for shrinkage, wonkiness, or cutting errors.
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Old 07-28-2013, 06:21 PM
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You could also enlarge the blocks to make the bigger size. About 1.5 times bigger would make it plenty large. A little smaller would work, too.
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