Open Quilting thread in the studio. The form on this page is that calculator.
Why quilting thread is its own sum
Piecing a top uses a little thread. Quilting the sandwich uses a lot, and it depends on how close the lines are. A simple crosshatch can live at two inches. Edge-to-edge pantographs sit around there. Dense custom quilting can be closer to half an inch, and it multiplies the spools.
This estimate is for the quilting itself: top thread and bobbin, for a crosshatch or for meandering at the same average gap. It is a shopping number. It will not match a particular pantograph stitch for stitch, and it does not include the thread you used to piece the top. A throw's worth of piecing is often another small spool.
How the spool count is calculated
One set of lines each way is twice the quilt's area, divided by the spacing. Ten percent is added for the stitches that travel between lines and the tails you bury. Divide by 36 to get yards. The bobbin uses the same length as the top.
- Inches of stitching = (2 × width × length ÷ spacing) × 1.1
- Yards = that length ÷ 36, rounded up
- Spools = yards ÷ yards on a spool, rounded up
- Bobbins = yards ÷ yards on a bobbin, rounded up
The default spool is 500 yards and the default bobbin is 50. A wound bobbin is often 40 to 60 yards, and a prewound bobbin can hold more. Change those to the thread you actually have.
Thread for a 2 inch gap
500 yard spools and 50 yard bobbins. The last row is the same queen quilt at a half-inch gap, which is dense quilting.
| Quilt | Spacing | Quilting thread | Spools | Bobbins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 × 60 in | 2 in | 92 yards | 1 | 2 |
| 60 × 72 in | 2 in | 132 yards | 1 | 3 |
| 90 × 95 in | 2 in | 262 yards | 1 | 6 |
| 90 × 95 in | 1/2 in | 1,045 yards | 3 | 21 |
How to use this calculator
- Enter the finished quilt, the size you will actually quilt, including borders.
- Set the spacing to the average gap between lines. Two inches is a medium allover. Use a smaller number for dense quilting.
- Set the yards on your spool and on your bobbin. The card turns the stitching into a count of each.
- Buy one more spool than the card says if the thread is dyed in lots you care about matching.
What this number leaves out
- Piecing thread is extra. This is the quilting, top and bobbin.
- Batting and thread are a pair. A lofty batt with widely spaced lines is a different quilt from a flat batt with dense quilting. The batting calculator sizes the package.
- Travel stitches vary. The extra tenth covers ordinary starts, stops, and the path between lines. A design with a lot of separate motifs will use more.
When the piece is part of a whole quilt. The stitching on a designed quilt still follows this spacing. The yardage of the top does not. The fabric calculator counts every piece in a design, then adds binding, backing, and batting. These pages answer one question at a time.