If you are a quilter, then you’ve probably cut hundreds if not thousands of squares of fabric over time. It’s just one of the joys of quilting….cutting, cutting, more cutting and cutting again. Still, we shouldn’t complain since these days we have the privilege of rotary cutters, quilting rulers and cutting mats to make the whole process a lot easier.
Even so, knowing how many of those little suckers we need to cut and the amount of fabric we will need oftentimes requires a bit of math. And I don’t know about you but I try to avoid those calculations as much as possible.
So to make things easier for both you and me, I’ve created a table that shows the number of squares you will get from a yard of fabric based on the useable width of fabric (WOF). In other words, the WOF you will get after you trim off the selvages.
If you are new to quilting and don’t know what WOF is, then scroll down to below the table for clarification.
Number of Squares Per Yard of Fabric
The table below displays the number of squares you will get from one yard of fabric based on the width of your fabric.For example, if your width of fabric (WOF) is 40" (after trimming off the selvages) and you want to cut 5" squares, the number of squares you will get is 56.
| Square | 39" | 40" | 41" | 42" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .5" | 5616 | 5760 | 5904 | 6048 |
| 1' | 1404 | 1440 | 1476 | 1512 |
| 1.5" | 624 | 624 | 648 | 672 |
| 2" | 342 | 360 | 360 | 378 |
| 2.5" | 210 | 224 | 224 | 224 |
| 3" | 156 | 156 | 156 | 168 |
| 3.5" | 110 | 110 | 110 | 120 |
| 4" | 81 | 90 | 90 | 90 |
| 4.5" | 64 | 64 | 72 | 72 |
| 5" | 49 | 56 | 56 | 56 |
| 5.5" | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 |
| 6" | 36 | 36 | 36 | 42 |
| 6.5" | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| 7" | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 |
| 7.5" | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| 8" | 16 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| 8.5" | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| 9" | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| 9.5" | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| 10" | 9 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| 10.5" | 9 | 9 | 9 | 12 |
| 11" | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 11.5" | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 12" | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 12.5" | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 13" | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 13.5" | 4 | 4 | 6 | |
| 14" | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| 14.5" | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 15" | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 15.5" | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 16" | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 16.5" | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 17" | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 17.5" | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 18" | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 18.5" | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 19" | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 19.5" | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 20" | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 20.5" | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
What is WOF?
Most quilting fabric comes on a bolt and it is folded before wrapping around that bolt.
When you buy a yard of fabric off the bolt, the salesperson will unroll the fabric from the bolt and measure 36″ or so across the length of the fabric and cut. (Usually, they will give you slightly more than 36″ because the fabric is not always straight and once you straighten it, you will lose some of the fabric.)
Now the fabric, at this point, is still folded and it is folded from selvage to selvage. The selvages are those edges of the fabric that are placed there by the manufacturer to prevent the fabric from fraying.
If you were to unfold the fabric and measure from one selvage edge to the other selvage edge you get the ‘width of fabric’ (WOF).
Most quilting fabric measures about 44″ from selvage to selvage. However, if you’ve been quilting for a while, you’ll know this isn’t always the case – you might have quilting fabric that measures 42” or 43” or something else yet again.
Either way, you pretty much will never get the full use of the fabric since you will need to cut off the selvage edges and straighten up the fabric.
Once you have done that your WOF may now only measure 40″ or 42″ or something else completely.
This is why, in the table above, we have created 4 columns with different WOF measurements – 39″, 40″, 41″ and 42″.
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Cyd says
Thanks for your easy to understand cutting instructions for charm squares. You make it so easy to do this.
Alanda Craft says
Thank you for the lovely feedback. So glad we could help.
Sheryl Lawrence says
Looking to make a simple beginner baby quilt. Do you have any such patterns?
Alanda Craft says
We have a couple that are super easy:
1. Beginner Quilt – /2015/06/08/quilting-for-beginners-the-easiest-quilt-ever/
2. Layer Cake Quilt – /2018/03/02/quick-quilt-1-layer-cake-baby-quilt-tutorial/
R says
Using the above numbers I figured out how many strips I could get from a yard of fabric.
For example: if your (WOF is 42″) and you want to cut 1.5″ strips, 7″ long, the number of strips you will get is 134.
for strips: Divide by smallest inch square number total by a multiplier
Example: 1.5″ strip by 7″ Long, then 7 /(divide by) 1.5 = 5 (multiplier)
1.5″ square = 672 (WOF 42″) / (divide by multiplier (of 5) [ if 7″ Length, then 1.5″ X (times) 4.66 (round Up to 5) = 7″]) = 134 round down
134 is the number of strips (1.5″ wide X 7″ length) I can get from a yard of fabric.
Alanda Craft says
Thank you for providing that helpful information to our readers. I know everyone will certainly appreciate it.
Aretha Bowman says
I definitely appreciation that calculation method and I wrote it down in my notes for future reference.. I also printed the chart showing the number of squares per yard of material. Thanks again
Preethi Ravi says
Hi. How did you get 672? Sorry confused.
Alanda Craft says
This is the calculation – (42” ÷ 1.5”) + (36” ÷ 1.5”) = 672 squares
a g says
How many 10″ squares are in a 108″s wide yard? WHY is this so confusing??? 🙁
Thank you
Alanda Craft says
You will get 10 squares across the 108″ fabric and 3 down for the yard. So I’m guessing 30 squares.
Elizabeth says
I mis-read your table, mistaking .5” (1/2”) for 5” and got mighty confused. But now I’ve realised my error and am poitive that i will never, ever want to cut fabric that small!
Thank you for doing the hard work for me 🙂
Alanda Craft says
I can understand the confusion 😊. I have a friend who made a quilt using 1/2″ squares, it looks amazing and although I think she is brilliant, I also think she is nuts to even want to attempt something like that. I absolutely admire those ladies who think nothing of tackling those small squares. Me – the bigger the square the better.