Warm Cool Quilt Along - Quilt Sizes and Fabric Requirements

Welcome to the second post of the Warm Cool Quilt-Along! Today I'll be sharing the quilt sizes and fabric requirements needed for each size!

1. Color Refresher
Today's Post: Quilt Sizes and Fabric Requirements

Finished Value Quilt, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

I’ve created measurements for three different size quilts (Mini, Baby and Twin), this way if you have a lot of commitments but still want to participate you could tackle one of the smaller quilts! I’ll be doing the mini size for this quilt along (since I’ve already made one of these quilts!). Each size is assembled the same, so the instructions won’t be any different, just the amount of fabric and sewing needed!

Scrappy, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

This quilt is assembled entirely with Half-Square Triangles (HSTs)! They’re an awesome building block (literally, hehe) for tons of fun quilts and blocks! Next week I'll do a step by step through how to sew a HST!
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SIZE 1: Mini – 20” x 20” - Choose 32 fabrics: 16 Warm, 16 Cool

Mini, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

1/4 yard, fat quarter or scraps of 16 Warm colored fabrics
1/4 yard, fat quarter or scraps of 16 Cool colored fabrics
3/4 yard (24” x 24”) of backing fabric (or pieced!)
3/4 yard (24” x 24”) of batting
1/4 yard binding fabric (95” of binding, total of 3 – 2.5” x 42" strips)
HST Size: 3” unfinished, 2.5” finished

Choose 32 fabrics: 16 Warm, 16 Cool and cut:
32 Warm colored 3 1/2” squares
32 Cool colored 3 1/2” squares
Cut 2 squares from each fabric.


SIZE 2: Baby – 40” x 40” - Choose 50 fabrics: 25 Warm, 25 Cool

Baby, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

1/4 yard, fat quarter or scraps of 25 Warm colored fabrics
1/4 yard, fat quarter or scraps of 25 Cool colored fabrics
1 1/4 yard (44”x44”) of backing fabric (or pieced!)
1 1/4 yard (44”x44”) of batting
1/2 yard binding fabric (175” of binding, total of 5 – 2.5” x 42" strips)
HST size: 4.5” unfinished HST, 4” finished

Choose 50 fabrics: 25 Warm, 25 Cool and cut:
50 Warm colored 5” squares
50 Cool colored 5” squares
Cut 2 squares from each fabric.


SIZE 3: Twin – 65” x 88” - Choose 44 fabrics: 22 Warm, 22 Cool

Twin, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

1/3 yard of 22 Warm colored fabrics
1/3 yard of 22 Cool colored fabrics
4 1/2 yards (69” x 92” ) of backing fabric (or pieced!)
2 5/8 yards (69” x 92”) of batting
5/8” yard binding fabric (320” of binding, total of 8 – 2.5” strips)
HST size: 4.5” unfinished HST, 4” finished

Choose 44 fabrics: 22 Warm, 22 Cool and cut:
176 Warm colored 5” squares
176 Cool colored 5” squares
Cut 8 squares from each fabric.
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Feel free use more or less fabrics than I've indicated, it's up to you and the size of your stash! You can use as many different fabrics as you'd like, the numbers above are just a starting point. This quilt is all about using what you have, the scrappier the better! On the flip side, if you have a smaller stash, you could easily do this with 10 different fabrics, you'd just need to cut more squares from each fabric! Simply keep track of the # of squares you have as you cut, and be sure to only cut squares for one quilt size, unless you're making two quilts! ;)

Keep in Mind

Fabrics, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

1. Be mindful of the warm and cool color group, refer back to the refresher post if you need to!

2. Try to stay away from neutral colors (white, gray, black, beige, brown), they don't fit in either the warm or cool color group, because they are neutral! :)

3. When selecting colors in each color group, try to get an even mix of colors. For example if you need 16 Warm colored fabrics, perhaps choose 4 red, 4 pink, 4 orange, and 4 yellow. They don't have to be exactly even or anything, just something to keep in mind!

4. Don't be scared by the yardage needed. The largest square size you will need is 5", which could be cut from scraps and easily from fat quarters (you can get twelve 5" squares out of a fat quarter!). Unless you are tackling the Twin size, you won't be cutting more than 1 or 2 squares from each fabric! :)

5. Make it work for your stash! If you need to cut 3 squares from one fabric and 1 square from another, do it! Just make sure you end up with an even number of warm and cool blocks and you'll be good to go! There are going to be so many different colors and patterns playing together, it will look great!

6. If you'd like to try a different method for making HSTs, I'd recommend the Missouri Star Quilt Company method as outlined by Christina of The Sometimes Crafter here. This method would require the following for each size: Mini - Cut 16 warm 5” squares, 16 cool 5” squares. Baby - 25 warm 7” squares, 25 cool 7" squares. Twin - 88 warm 7” squares, 88 cool 7" squares. Each pair of squares yields 4 blocks, so that's why you need less squares!


Feel free to add your fabric stacks to the In Color Order Flickr Group! If you have questions or are having trouble putting together your fabrics, feel free to post there for advice and help! :)

Here is my final fabric selection:

My Fabric Selection, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

So, hopefully that wasn't too super confusing! Hehe. Three different quilt sizes, there is bound to be some confusion so please don't hesitate to ask questions, and have fun!