Open Sashing in the studio. The form on this page is that calculator.
Why cornerstones change the way you cut
Sashing is the strip between blocks. Cornerstones are the small squares where those strips would otherwise cross. With cornerstones, every sash is one block long, and the sash fabric and the cornerstone fabric are figured separately, because they usually are different cloth.
Without cornerstones, the vertical sashes are still one block long, and each horizontal sash is a single strip as wide as the whole row. Those long strips are often longer than the fabric, so they are pieced. The card says so rather than pretending one width will reach. An outer frame around the whole quilt is a border, not sashing. Add it with the border calculator after you know the size on this card.
How sashing is calculated
- Finished width = columns × block + the sashing between the columns
- With cornerstones: one short sash for every place two blocks meet, horizontally and vertically, and a square at every crossing
- Short sash = finished sashing + 1/2 inch, by finished block + 1/2 inch
- Cornerstone = finished sashing + 1/2 inch square
- Without cornerstones: the horizontal sash is the full finished width + 1/2 inch
Cornerstones do not change the quilt size. A cornerstone replaces the square where two sashes would have overlapped. Two inches is a common finished width. Narrower sashing disappears next to a busy block. Wider sashing starts to read as a design of its own.
Eight-inch blocks, 2 inch sashing, 4 by 5
The finished quilt is 38 by 48 inches either way. Cornerstones change the pieces, not the size. Cut sizes include the seam allowance. Yardage depends on the fabric width, and the card works that out.
| Layout | Sash pieces | Cut size | Cornerstones |
|---|---|---|---|
| With cornerstones | 31 short sashes | 2 1/2 × 8 1/2 in | 12 squares at 2 1/2 in |
| No cornerstones | 15 short sashes, plus 4 long ones | Short: 2 1/2 × 8 1/2 in. Long: 2 1/2 × 38 1/2 in | None |
How to use this calculator
- Enter the finished block and the finished sashing width.
- Enter the columns and rows of blocks, not of sashing strips.
- Turn cornerstones on or off. On gives you short sashes and small squares. Off gives you long horizontal strips.
- Set the fabric width. If a long sash is longer than the cloth, the card counts it as pieced.
Tips for sashing
- Cut the sashes the same length as the blocks you actually sewed, which may be a thread off the pattern. A sash that is right on paper and short on the block makes a bowed row.
- Press sashing toward the sash so the block seams have somewhere to sit.
- Nine-patch and snowball quilts are the usual grids that want this page. The block's own squares are on the nine patch and snowball calculators.
When the piece is part of a whole quilt. Sashing in a drawn quilt is included in the fabric list. This page is the grid when you are working from a block count. The fabric calculator counts every piece in a design, then adds binding, backing, and batting. These pages answer one question at a time.