How much fabric for a group sewing project

The first mistake is buying fabric per volunteer. Fabric is consumed by finished pieces, and the two numbers are only loosely related: one person may sew five placemats while another hems one. So start from the bazaar target — say, the table needs 24 placemats and 6 runners — and turn it into a shopping question: 24 placemat sets (front and back) and 6 runner sets.

Two details hide here. First, fronts and backs use the same amount of fabric, so a “set” doubles a single piece’s number. Second, any project with a contrasting back — a bazaar favourite, because it makes the piece look finished from both sides — splits the total: main fabric for the fronts, a second fabric for the backs. Decide which kind you are making before the shop, not inside it.

Quilting cotton comes 44–45 inches wide, and both starter projects use that width efficiently. The numbers that matter:

• A placemat (about 12 × 18 inches finished) takes roughly half a yard of fabric per finished set — front and back — plus a batting scrap around 14 × 20 inches. One yard of fabric cuts four placemat layers.
• A table runner (about 14 × 40 inches finished) takes about one yard per finished set: half a yard for the front, half for the back, plus a batting strip around 16 × 42 inches.
• Thread runs about one spool per six to eight pieces. For a bazaar-sized batch, put two or three spools of neutral thread on the list and let the tension on one machine not become everyone’s problem.

These are the numbers for the classic runner-and-placemat projects with straight seams. Anything with borders, binding or patchwork adds 10–25% — if the group is still deciding, budget the plain version and treat the border as a surprise you can already afford.

Eight volunteers want to finish 24 placemats with a contrasting back before the December fair. The arithmetic:

• 24 sets × half a yard = 12 yards total, split as 6 yards of main fabric and 6 of the backing.
• Batting: 24 scraps of about 14 × 20 inches — one standard batting pack covers it, or one full-size bolt if the church quilt room is generous.
• Thread: 24 pieces at roughly eight per spool is three spools.

The same eight people making six runners instead: 6 sets × one yard = 6 yards, main fabric only if the runner uses one fabric for both sides, or 3 + 3 if the backs contrast. Per person, that is under a yard each — the kind of number that keeps a group budget happy.

Whatever the maths says, add 10–15% before you drive to the shop. The buffer absorbs the miscut a beginner does not notice until it is too late, the seam taken at five-eighths instead of a quarter of an inch, and the one piece that comes off the cutting table crooked at every project’s halfway point. Pre-washing shrinks quilting cotton by a few percent too, and pre-washing before the cutting day is the one step you cannot do retroactively.

Check the width on the bolt label while you are there. The numbers above assume 44–45 inch fabric; a 54-inch bolt is a bonus for runners (you can squeeze more out of each yard), but narrower fabric — some imported cottons run 40 inches — breaks the runner cutting and needs the buffer to become 25%.