Amount of fabric needed for 23" sq 9 patch block
 

Hi everyone! I'm completely new here and to quilting so please bear with me! :) I've just joined an international quilting group and the first project of the year is an oversized 9 patch. I need to make a 23" square 9 patch block. I understand that it is to be made of 9 smaller 8" blocks, and I just want to figure out how much fabric I need. I have no suitable scraps since I'm so new! I think I could just choose nine colours, but I'm wondering how much of each to get. I know I need a 1/4" seam allowance all the way around. Should I just have the fabric cut into fat quarters and work from there? Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

Jamie

Do you only need to make one 9 patch block?

Will you be making Blocks monthly? If so - Do you want the same material in every block?
I hope my math is right!
You could buy fat quarters and if I calculated right if the fat quarter is 18 x 22 you would get 4 - 8" blocks
1/4 of a yard WOF is 9" wide and you would get 4 - 8" blocks

Hi Karen,

Thanks so much! We do a different block for a different person each month - different quilt types, etc. based on what kind of quilt they want to put together.

I guess I didn't realize just how big fat quarters are. I would ideally like to have lots of colours, so would it make more sense to get 10" or 12" square of each colour (if the fabric store will do that). Does that give me enough wiggle room? I'm trying to do this on a serious budget.

Does this make sense?

The first thing you need to do is re-check your directions.:) There is not an easy way to make a 23" 9 patch block. 23 does not divide evenly by 3. Are you sure is isn't a 24" block?

Fabric stores won't cut a square for you, but they may have layer cakes for sale. A layer cake is a collection of (usually) 42 10" squares. That might be the best way to collect lots of different fabrics quickly. Here's a description of layer cakes - http://www.fatquartershop.com/layer-cakes

I am assuming that she is to use 8" unfinished, which would give her a 22.5" finished block, and it would be 23" unfinished.

The fabric store will probably not cut a fat quarter, or a square. They normally will only cut yardage, as the previous poster said, you would buy a quarter yard 'WOF' or width of fabric i.e. cut from the bolt. You figure about 40 usable inches WOF. Having said that, all quilt shops will sell fat quarters as pre cuts, in other words, they are already cut & are not measured when purchased. Precuts come in a variety of sizes: candies, charms, jelly rolls, layer cakes etc. except for fat quarters, they come pre packaged with one or two cuts of fabric all from the same line, so they all coordinate. The number of fabrics can vary (20 to 40 or so) so you need to be aware of what you are buying. You can look at the Moda site for more info on sizes and free patterns:
http://www.modabakeshop.com/
What you might want to ask your quilt shop about is a layer cake, which is a pack of 10" squares, however, it might be pricey. A less costly alternative would be a stack of 10" squares from Connecting Threads:
http://www.connectingthreads.com/cfS...?q=layer+cakes

How many different fabrics are you planning to use in the block?

Ok! This is all great info. Both stores I went to said they would cut as small as a four inch square - called an 8th? This is why I thought they might be able to do a specific size for me, but again, totally new! :)

The girl who we are making this quilt for wants solids only in dark reds, black, grey, tan, green, etc. She used scraps I think and had about 12 colours in her block, but some of them were different shades of colours. To keep my costs down, because these aren't colours I would typically use, I just want to try to spend as little as possible on fabric. I would be happy with probably 8 different colours or so.

Math is the hardest part of quilting by FAR! :)

Hmm, I'm not doubting you, but are you sure the stores said they would cut a 4" SQUARE, and not a 4.5" strip, which would be an eighth of a yard? Normally an eighth of a yard, width of fabric, 4.5" X 40") is the least amount a shop will cut.