Quilting Calculations

Have I mentioned I love working in Valli & Kim's? Because I do! I got to work in there on Saturday and I loved every minute of it. I did notice that a couple gals trying to do fabric calculations in their head to figure out how much yardage they needed. Since I'm such a visual person, I tend to hand those folks a pen and some paper, but it got me thinking: Is there a better way?

Just a small corner of Grayson's totally sweet "stash"

One of my good friends, Grayson, buys 2 yards of every fabric she likes. That way she knows she always has enough. I can't really do that right now on my budget, but I would REALLY like to! One woman I met in the store uses a quilters calculator on her i-phone called QuiltCalc by Robert Kaufman. I've used it and it's pretty handy! I used it to figure out yardage for my cushion. Generally, I tend to just draw stuff out in scribbles and random equations written in the margins.

These are some of my calculations for that Celtic Quilt.
The pattern originally came from a Cross Stitch Design.
I ended up having to figure out my own yardage!

I asked my math-wiz-sister (she thinks calculus is fun) if she just kept the math in her head or did she write it down. She said she could do it in her head, but even she would "forget to carry the one."

Most patterns tell you how much you need, but some are vague or you plan to tweak the pattern a bit or even design your own stuff. How do you keep your calculations straight?

By Cassie Grace