rosalynd

I would like to make a queen size rail fence quilt with 3.5in strips, 3 colors for the blocks, a 3in outer dark border, and an 2in inner light border.
Ok, now I don't know how wide the strips for the blocks need to be and could use some help calculating yardage for each fabric.
This is my first bed quilt and I'm a little intimidated, but determined!
Thanks in advance for the help!he

EasyPeezy

Queen size is a bit vague. Can you give the finished dimension of your quilt?

rosalynd

Something around 90x100. I'm sorry I'm not very specific, I've never done this before and I'm not exactly sure what the dimensions should be. I know that's on the large side of queen size, which is what I'm looking for. I'd also like slightly larger blocks which is why I'd like to do 3.5in instead of the standard 2.5in strips.

rosalynd

Oops and I meant to say I don't know how LONG to make the strips. That would be the width of the block.

Prism99

If you are using 3.5" wide strips and 3 strips per block, I would strip piece the 3 strips together and then cut them at 9.5" to make 9.5" square blocks. When sewn together, finished block size will be 9". (Note: it's a good idea to actually measure your width after the 3 strips are sewn together and cut the blocks at *your* width -- which may be slightly smaller or larger than calculated measurements. As long as they are square, any size block is fine. For this reason and for efficiency, this is why I would not pre-cut all the strip lengths but would wait to cut until you have strip sets sewn.)

Assuming you mean a 3" finished outer border and 2" finished inner border, this means that the borders will take off 10" from the finished dimensions of length and width. If you want your quilt to be 90x100, then the inner portion of blocks would need to measure 80x90. This would be about 9 blocks across (9x9"=81") and 10 blocks down (10x9"=90").

Just be aware that if you use a cotton batting, you can expect about 3% shrinkage when the quilt is washed. This would make after-wash dimensions about 88"x95". If you want the post-washed quilt to be larger than that, you might want to add an extra block in both the width and length of the middle portion, or make the borders a little wider, or add a third border.

Caution: Check all my figures, as it is late and I could have made a mistake. I won't check my calculations until tomorrow!

rosalynd

Thank you so much Prism99! Now I just have to figure out the yardage and I can get to it.

Holice

easy math. Draw it out on graft paper.....

charsuewilson

Each width of fabric should be at least 42". So, you'll be able to make 4 blocks from each WOF strip set. (42/9.5")
At 4 blocks/WOF strip set, to make a 9x10 block quilt, you'll need 90 blocks, or 23 strip sets (90/4, rounding up)
And each strip is 3.5", so you need 3.5" x 23 = 80.5" Divide by 36" to get yardage = 2.24 yards.
I'd buy 2.5 yards in case of cutting errors (yours or the shop's).
If you want the quilt a little bigger, that's 10x11 blocks, or 110 blocks. Comes to 2.72 yards. I'd buy 3 yards.

Those are the yardages for just the blocks, for each of the 3 colors.

If you're using the same fabric for borders, you'll need more. I would try to cut the fabric for the borders lengthwise. 3 yards more would be enough for a 100" length quilt. 3.25 yards if you want one more block. This will leave a lot of unused fabric for the borders. You can get by with less if you want to piece the borders. This will use 3.5" x 4, or 14" of the fabric width for the wide border. That's one third of the 42" width. So, three pieces per border will use one third the fabric plus a little for butt seaming, more for diagonal seaming.

rosalynd

Thank you so much for your help charsuewilson! I still need a little help with the borders.
I would like to use the same light fabric for the narrow, 2in finished border as I'm using in the blocks, but a different fabric altogether for the 3in finished border. This is where I get all confused on yardage. I am definitely ok with piecing the borders since that will save me some fabric.
Can you help me with the yardage for these dimensions?

Jan in VA

As the maker of many triple rail fence quilts I suggest you consider using an inner border of a fabric NOT used in your blocks....otherwise it appears the blocks are 'bleeding' into the border. Using a different color "stops" the design of the top before the borders are applied.

Cut your block strips a 3" wide by 42" (or width of fabric from selvage edge to selvage edge). You will need 23 strips of each color. The Blocks will measure approximately 7.5" square. ("Approximately" is the operative word!)

The 3 colors chosen per block should be sewn together using your closest 1/4" seam allowance. Make 23 sets of these.

Press the three strips all to one side. Measure across several of the strip sets to find an average measurement for the width of the strip sets.

Cut the strips into subset segments this average measurement size....they will be approximately +/-7.5", depending on your seam allowance, the evenness of your seams, the accuracy of your cutting, and your pressing.

Once you have cut the strip segments, you will have all your blocks, you will need 120 of them. They will be set 10 blocks across and 12 blocks down.

Cut your inner border strips at 2.5" x 42" (or width of the fabric from selvage edge to selvage edge); you will need 10 strips for the inner border. Using that different fabric here, as a stopper border will improve the finished look of your quilt.

Cut your outer border strips at 3.5" x 42"; you will need 10 or 11 strips for the outer border.

Your quilt should finish approximately 85”x 100”.

This pattern written for a different size and color setting may help you anyway.
Jan in VA