Determining Fabric Requirements: 'Blocks'

Making quilts is such an individual thing, there are so many variables. It's therefore impossible for us to give total fabric requirements in our designs. The easiest way for you to calculate the fabric needed is to first decide how big the quilt should be. This in itself varies between quilt makers as everyone wants the quilts to hang at different lengths over their beds, etc.   After you have worked out how big the finished quilt is to be, you need to work out how many of the blocks you will need. This will be determined by the hoop size you use to make your project ( our designs come in varying hoop sizes to give flexibility and to cater for individuals machine capacity). The finished block ends up measuring about 1/2" smaller than the hoop size eg. 5x7 Hoop = 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" finished. Our designs come in many different hoop sizes http://swpea.com/pages/hoop-sizes We give the fabric requirements for the blocks in the instructions, so after you work out how many finished blocks you need for the quilt you just have to multiply the number of blocks by the amount of 'background' fabric stated in the instructions. We don't usually give the exact fabric requirements for applique pieces. These pieces of fabric are usually small so it is a great way to use up your scraps.