Using stash in place of precuts
 

My mind is blank as to how to use my stash instead of precuts. The precuts, for example layercakes, come in about 40 different fabrics. How do I get a similar effect on a quilt if I use my stash, but not 40 different fabrics. I want to make a simple pattern and have enough variety in blocks. Also how much yardage do I need to compensate for similar precuts. I hope I am not sounding confusing, but my mind is not clear on this. Thank you in advance.

You can figure four 10 inch squares from a width of fabric (most of the time, anyway)

You can figure about twelve 10-inch squares from a yard of fabric. (30 x 40 inches of fabric - 3 x 4 squares)

It's often helpful to cut fabric at the end of a project into a pre-cut shape (10x10, 5x5, 2.5x2.5, 2.5xWOF, 18x22, 9x11) so it's ready to use on future projects.

It would be easier to give advice if you have a particular design in mind, but in general, you want to either do similar values in different colors, or similar colors in different values. There are a lot of great online resources about color theory. Honestly, though, if you still have a very small stash, you may need to supplement it with yardage and/or some pre-cuts if you are wanting a scrappy look to your quilt. I am working on the Calico Gardens quilt & originally thought I would mostly use my own stash, but I saw how striking it was with many different fabrics & decided to go ahead & purchase the optional monthly FQ packs that my LQS put together for the class so I could have that scrappy look. I'm ending up with quite a bit of leftovers that I will eventually (when it's finished) trim down to standard sizes to use in future quilts.

Here's a free online calculator to figure out how much yardage you need to get a specific number of "pre-cut" sized pieces. Just type in the width of the fabric, size of the pieces you want & how many of each size you need.
http://www.quiltersparadiseesc.com/C...Calculator.php

I make my own layer cake sized pieces quite often. You may have to experiment to see what you like, but, for example, when I do the Double Slice Layer Cake, my favorite way is to use ten fabrics. Let me show you one, and you can see if that might give you enough variety. I tend to go for 3 lights, 3 darks, and three mediums....that equals 9 fabrics. then I just make one more of whichever of the fabrics is my favorite.

This one used 20 10" x 10" pieces. It makes a lap-sized quilt. Doubling that would be easy, since you can get four 10" x 10" from one ten inch width of fabric. You could easily buy 1/3 yard of each fabric you wanted. I lean towards purple and blue, so I tend to do several shades of each. But the possibilities are endless.

Hope this might be helpful...

Dina

Just a reminder for fraction and decimal equivallents of a yard (36 inches)

1/8 = 0.125 = 4-1/2 inches
1/6 = 0.167 = 6 inches
1/4 = 0.250 = 9 inches
1/3 = 0.333 = 12 inches
3/8 = 0.375 = 13-1/2 inches
1/2 = 0.500 = 18 inches
5/8 = 0.625 = 22.5 inches
2/3 = 0.667 = 24 inches
3/4 = 0.750 = 27 inches
7/8 = 0.875 = 31-1/2 inches

A layercake has 40 pieces, it does not have 40 different fabrics.

The last layer cake I bought had 2 of each of 20 fabrics. I don;t know what most have...

Dina

I have seen layer cakes with 15 different fabrics with duplicates up to 24+ fabrics. Most of the fabric lines I have seen have small, medium and large scale prints as well as darks, mediums and lights. Some also have stripes. If you want to try to duplicate that from your stash, remember to use a variety. I don't like to use precuts, but have had to use a few because of health problems. I have found that I don't always like every item of the fabric line so I find myself replacing some of the fabrics with ones I like better.

This looks handy! I am always figuring yardages the hard way--from scratch.

Wish I had this long ago.