We’ve talked a little bit recently about common quilt sizes. The hardest thing to understand is that these guidelines are just that… guidelines. But as a beginner quilter, you have to start somewhere right?
Quilts come in all shapes and sizes. There is no “right” or “wrong” quilt size. As long as the quilt size fits the needed size, it is right. Some of my quilts have ended up square, and some are more rectangular. I’ve even made hexagon-shaped quilts.
I’m here to give you your starting guidelines.
I wanted to share with you a clear quilt size chart to visually show the differences in the quilt sizes and shapes of standard quilts.
You may choose to make your quilt a little wider or a little taller depending on your need, but this will be your first stop before designing your quilt.
I created the perfect chart for you so that you’ll always be able to refer back to it for quilt sizes… and… of course, I made it pretty too!
Most Common Quilt Sizes
(Make sure you Pin it to save it for later!)
But what if I don’t want to follow a common quilt size?
(You’re a bit of a creative rebel aren’t you? It’s totally fine, I am too ?)
Yes, well the good thing about guidelines is that they’re not hard cut rules. You can – and in some cases, totally should – break them!
This sizes above are approximate and can vary 4″ – 8″.
If you want to go completely rogue and do your own thing… go for it!
You just have to adjust the fabric requirements for your pattern so that you won’t run out of fabric before you run out of quilt.
If my budget allows for it, I will usually buy a little more than the required fabric in a pattern anyways. I tell myself that it’s a little safety net in case I mis-cut or make a mistake I can’t come back from.
It also come in handy to piece coordinating fabric from the front of the quilt into the back of the quilt.
For more tips on what to do on the back of your quilt, check out these recent posts
Tips to design your own quilt patterns
This isn’t something that I talk a lot about but I really like to design my own quilt patterns. Ha, um you may have noticed as I give away a lot of FREE patterns in my Freebie Library and on my site. I also have several really fun patterns available in my shop as well that work for any level of quilter.
I start out sketching my ideas for a quilt pattern on graph paper and once I have a lot of the kinks worked out I draw the pattern up in my EQ8 software on my computer. It is a wonderful program with so many awesome calculations and capabilities.
If you’re even half serious about designing your own quilts, I highly recommend owning the program because it will make your quilt math so much easier!
You can download my FREE printable graph paper sheets from this post: Free Quilt Planning Graph Paper Pack
