Making it bigger... and bigger....

Last week one of my students came to class with the most beautiful quilt, a little too small to be a double quilt and a little too big to be a twin.  It was a one block quilt and she used four different fabrics - one fabric and a background in each block.  She had a lot of leftover fabric.  It was one of those "Oh my Gosh - I love this fabric" purchases.  You know the kind.  You do not have a project in mind but you cannot leave the fabric in the store.

Although she had a lot a fabric left - we thought it might look a little busy if she continued adding the same blocks over and over.  They were 11 inches square and bright - so we strategized a bit on how she could make it bigger - even queen sized!

Many people might start by adding one border and then another until you lose the blocks in heavy borders.

Because we knew the size of the block - there was another option.  She could make an inner border (or two) that added up to 11 inches in total.  Once she did that - she could start putting another set of 11 inch blocks around the border.

Using the measurement of 11 inches would ensure that the next set of blocks that were also 11 inches each would meet the edge of the outer borders when adding a row to the top,

The snag in the ointment was the math to determine the size of the border(s).  It can be very confusing when you start adding 1/2 inch to each measurement and doing the math to make sure everything will fit.

So here's the trick.  Work from the finished size and once you have all those measurements in place add 1/2 inch to the length and width to any block that will be joined to another.

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The Quilt: 55 1/2 x 66 1/2  (11 inch blocks - 5 blocks by 6 blocks)

Make it bigger:

Add One border - add 5 1/2 inches of border(s) in total to each side of the quilt. Now add 1/2 inch = 6 inches. Cut 6 inch borders and add to the outside of the assembled blocks.

Add Two borders - one will be 2 inches and one will be 3 1/2 (2 + 3 1/2 = 5 1/2)  Now add your 1/2 inch to each measurement.  1 strip will be cut 2 1/2 inches wide and 1 strip will be 4 inches wide.  Join them together and they will be 6 inches wide.  (the same size as the one border option)

Once the border(s) are added all the way around, your quilt will measure 66 1/2 x 77 1/2.  If you add one more row of blocks all the way around - you will need to make 6 blocks for each the top and the bottom, 7 blocks each for each side and 4 corner blocks for a total of 30 more blocks.

Once those blocks are added to the outside of the border(s) your quilt has now grown from a twin to a queen, and will measure 88 x 99.

The trick to figuring out how grow your quilt is by treating the center of the quilt before the borders have been added as a panel.  If you choose to add different sized blocks around the outside of the quilt - you simply have to add borders that will be divisible by the size of your outer block.

​In my book Measuring Success - there is an entire chapter on turning a panels into lap and larger quilts.  

Sometimes when we start a quilt - we fall in love with how it looks as it goes together.  Making it bigger isn't as complicated as it sound.  So get your pencil and paper out and start the math. (Or buy the book and get all the details in charts) 

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