Quilting How-To | Heart To Heart Fabrics

We enjoy assisting our customers in every aspect of quilting!

How many squares do I need?

Now, are you sewing a quilt with or without borders (if so, what size of borders?) or a rag quilt. If you will be making a rag quilt you will need additional squares for the back of the quilt and will not need borders. If sewing a traditional quilt,(not a rag quilt) you may determine the amount of squares needed by subtracting the total of inches for the borders from the length and width. With the remaining measurements divide length by 3.5 (Example using 4" squares, allowing for 1/4" seam allowance) as well as the width. This will determine how many squares you will need for the center of quilt. For rag quilts we recommend a min. seam allowance of 1/2".

Example: Let's say you were making a queen size quilt using 4" squares with a 3" inner border and a 4" outer border. To figure out how many squares needed going across subtract 14" (this is how many inches total for the borders on each side of the center) from 84", which equals 70" then divide that by 3.5" which will give you a total of 20 squares going across. To figure out how many squares needed going down subtract 14" from 92", then divide that by 3.5 which will give you a total of 22 squares going down. For the total of squares we will multiply 20 x 22, The total of squares needed for the center is 440 or (11) 40 4" square sets.

Now this may be a little overwhelming if you are new to quilting, so we have included a diagram, to help in understanding all of this.