craft/sewing question

[ctmom05]

How do I figure out how much material I need to line a bed- cover?

I made the bed-cover. The first part is finished, which was sewing patches together to form the body of the cover. I am going to line it with a soft, possibly more thermal material for form and to make it nice and cozy.

I know that material comes on bolts that vary in width. How do I figure out how much to buy to line my bed-cover?

I know the first step in figuring out how much liner material I need is to measure the finished size of the patchwork part. After that I start getting confused

 

[hearts and roses]

Hi Chris,

If you give the dimensions of the cover, a person at the fabric store should be able to help you determine how much you will need. I would go to a place like Jo-Ann Fabrics - is there one by you? I know there is one in Bristol and also West Hartford. I wouldn't go to WalMart or any other discount store - you want to make sure you get someone to help who is experienced. Good luck.

 

[ctmom05]

Jo,

You must be reading my mind(by the way - how the heck are you?...long time no chat-can I find you on im?).

What I am hoping to get is the knowledge from one of the experienced folks and transfer it over to Wal Mart prices, which fit my budget much better.

There is actually a fabric mill store in the town I live and Joann's a few towns over. But for $$ reasons, I am hoping to buy from Wal Mart.

 

[hearts and roses]

Ah, I see. Let me go ask my H. He measures things for a living, maybe he knows.

Okay, you know that a yard is 36". So you measure the cover's length and width and figure out how many square yards are in it. Each 36" square equals 1 yard of fabric. So if you have lets say a blanket that is 72" X 72", you will need 4 yards of fabric for one side and another 4 yards of fabric for the other side.

 

[ctmom05]

I got that far with my basic math skills, which fortunately are good. The problem being that fabric come on bolts of different widths, they are not all the same. So what constitutes a yard with one gives you different sizing with the other.

 

[SRL]

I would suggest visiting a few fabric stores because many carry a variety of quilt batting in wide widths. They cost a little more but then you don't have to sew strips together.

If you go with a narrower fabric, you need to make sure to add in extra for the seam allowances since you'll have to sew strips of the lining together, plus a few inches of overhang all around the quilt. The overhang is to account for stretching that might occur during pinning and sewing. You would trim off any extra afterwards.

 

[ctmom05]

SRL - my bedcover only looks like a quilt; I am not using quilting technique by any means - don't have the skills. I wouldn't say it's quilting insturction that I need help with so much - more like the math part.

My project is more simple, I sewed patches together and will line it with another material for substance, comfort, and form.

The challenge of the moment is to buy the proper amount of liner material. I know there is a math formula to do this properly, I just don't know what it is.

 

[donna723]

Have you thought about using quilt batting in the middle and then using maybe a flannel sheet as the underside?

 

[ctmom05]

I think I arrived at an answer myself, about how to take the measurements correctly.

The bed-cover meaures is 72" x 102", which is 7344 sq inches

A yard of material from a 45" bolt is 1620" and from a
54" bolt is 1944"

I simply divided.......

 

[muttmeister]

If I knew how to draw a picture on this reply I could easily explain it. The thing is, square inches or feet or whatever really doesn't help you much here. If your bedcover is 72x102 and you are buying 45" fabric you will have to buy about 6 yards. 102 inches is a little less than 3 yards but you will need some extra for edging so you would buy 6 yards; cut it into two 3 yard sections; sew them together down the middle, and use that to line the bedcover. You would have enough left over for seam allowances, etc. and you will have some extra to cut off down the edges. If it is 54" fabric you could do it the other direction and you would only need a little over 4 yards. Sew the tow 54" pieces together and lay it across the 102" side (you'd have and extra 6" for seams so the 72" is 2 yards but you would need a little extra for seam allowances. Probably 4 1/8 yards would do it.

 

[ctmom05]

Mutt,
I think the answer I got, by measuring and dividing is similar to yours. For 45" material I would need 4.53 yds or a little more than four and a half yards.

For 54" - 3.77 yds or a little more than three and three quarter yards.

My thought is to ask question at the local fabric mill $$$$tore and then head on over to Wal Mart.