How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 5: Ordering Border and Backing Fabric and Quilt Batting.

Now comes the step I found to be the most confusing when I made my first quilt, ordering fabric. I just could not get my head around it which is weird as I am pretty good at maths.

The fabric world however appears to operate by it’s own rules, and if you don’t know the lingo it can take some figuring out!

The switch from yards and inches to metres and centimetres I also find quite frustrating but am beginning to get used to now. I shall endeavour to supply both where I can.

I have listed a few conversion factors below.

1 yard = approx 92cm (91.44)
1 yard = 36 inches
1 inch = 2.54cm

The first thing to know is that rolls, or ‘bolts’ of fabric, will have a set width. These are normally 36, 44-45 or 54 inches wide. I currently order most of my stuff from The Cotton Patch who state that there bolts are 42-44 inches wide unless otherwise stated. This is equivalent to 106-114cm wide. Be sure to check with the supplier when ordering.

You can order in 1/4m units so your fabric will be a minimum of 106cm wide and 25cm long. Sometimes they may insist on a minimum order of 2 units in which case it would be 106cm wide and 50cm long.

Quilt Borders

For your four quilt border strips you will need four strips, each 3.5 inches wide and 42 inches long (or the width of the fabric as it comes).

For you cm lovers this will be four strips approx 106cm long, or the width of the fabric as it comes, and 9 cm wide.

3.5 inches x 4 = 14 inches = approx 36cm so you will need to order at least 2 units of this fabric.

Now while we are ordering we may as well go ahead and order the fabric for the back of our quilt and our binding as well.

Quilt Binding

For the binding you will need four 2.5 inch wide strips, approx 42″ long as well.

2.5 x 4 = 10 inches = approx 25 cm = 1 unit of fabric.

Quilt Backing

For the back you will need a square approx 42 inches by 42 inches so you will need to order length of minimum 107cm. I would order a minimum of 5 units, i.e. 125cm long.

So, to summarise you will need the following:

Border Fabric
42 inches = approx 107cm
3.5 inches = approx 9cm
You will require 2 x 1/4m units of fabric

Binding Fabric
42 inches = approx 107cm
2.5 inches = 6.5cm
You will require 1 x 1/4m unit of fabric

Backing Fabric
Approx 42 inch square (107cm square)
You will require 5 x 1/4m unit of fabric.

Batting/Wadding

There are many varieties of batting available.  The three main considerations are loft, material and size.

Loft = how thick or thin your quilt will be.

Low loft will be thin, high loft will be thick.

Low loft will be easier to sew on a standard sewing machine.

There are three types of material: cotton (natural), polyester (manamde) and polycotton (blended).  For a child’s quilt I would always choose 100% cotton.

You will need the size to be almost equivalent to the backing of your quilt so, if ordering in 1/4m units again order 5 units.

Many companies sell ‘crib’ size batting, normally 45 x 60 inches which is ideal for this project.

Next up, Step 6: Rotary Cutting and Adding Your Borders.