Quilt Calculators

Photo courtesy Crazy Mom Quilts

Two days ago I read the post on Crazy Mom Quilts about how to calculate fabric requirements for making quilts.  As I read through the very clear instructions I realized that the calculations could be automated in an Excel spreadsheet.  So I built two spreadsheets.  The first one tells you how many charm squares you need if you are just making a charm square quilt (no sashing, no borders, etc.)  The second one tells you your fabric and cutting requirements for one of the lovely 9 patch quilts you can see to the right.

For both files you can either select a standardized size quilt, or you can specify the dimensions you would like (think non-standard or square).  The calculators will get the final quilt size as close to your original dimensions as possible, but it will always round up to accomodate sashing and fixed block size.

For example, if you want a 40″ square charm quilt:

Charm squares are 5″, 4.5″ after seam allowances.  Forty inches divided by 4.5″ is 8.8889 charm squares across.  The calculator will round up to 9 squares across, and then it will also tell you the final dimensions you can expect for your quilt.  In this case it would be 40.5″.

If anyone wants to double check my math on these it would be greatly appreciated.  I am fairly confident in my calculations, but I would definitely feel better if someone else were to also take a look at it.

Click here to download the Charm Square Quilt calculator

Click here to download the Nine Patch Quilt calculator

Until next time, may life continue to inspire you!