GETTING STARTED: FABRIC REQUIREMENTS Since there are several options for making this Mystery Quilt (MQ), different fabric requirements are provided. Refer to the MQ4 Home Page for more information regarding different quilt sizes and options available. Do you know the size of your "fussy cuts"? Do you know the size of quilt you want? If the answer to both of those questions is "Yes", then continue reading! If not, then decide what you want before continuing.

November 03, 2001

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS for 3.5" FUSSY CUTS

The approximate quilt sizes (including two borders) for the 3.5" fussy cuts are:

• Small - 46" x 46"
• Medium - 46" x 59"
• Large - 72" x 72"

Do NOT cut these out until you receive further instructions because there are special instructions!

In addition to the fussy cuts, there are three other coordinating colors, all in the same family. In my sample quilt (snowmen), I'm using light blue, medium blue, and dark blue (for that icy look!). The light blue almost needs to be a whitish or creamish light blue, since it is the background and is going to make the design of the quilt stand out, so the lighter it is, the better. There also needs to be a very good contrast between the medium and the dark colors. As for the fussy cut print, the fabric that is going to be next to it in the quilt is the medium fabric, so make sure there is good contrast there. Of course, these are all just suggestions. You can change your colors around as you wish. To summarize, the light is the background, the medium is going to highlight your fussy cut and the dark is going to sort of frame the whole block. Refer to my sample fabrics below for an idea of what to look for.

Light Fabric	Medium Fabric	Dark Fabric	Fussy Cut Fabric (Pretend it's a fussy cut!)

You can make do with those four fabrics and have a wonderful quilt or you can give it a little zing and add a totally contrasting fabric for the small border (which is what I'm going to do!).  Here's my contrast fabric.

Here are the fabric requirements for the quilt top using 3.5" fussy cuts (A 3.5" fussy cut will finish at 3", so your motif should look good at 3"). Please keep in mind that these are close approximations and not exact measurements.

Here are the fabric requirements to finish the quilt using 3.5" fussy cuts. Again, these are close approximations... always pays to have a bit more, than less!

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS for 4.5" FUSSY CUTS

The approximate quilt sizes (including two borders) for the 4.5" fussy cuts are:

• Small - 59" x 59"
• Medium - 59" x 76"
• Large - 93" x 93"

Do NOT cut these out until you receive further instructions because there are special instructions!

In addition to the fussy cuts, there are three other coordinating colors, all in the same family. In my sample quilt (snowmen), I'm using light blue, medium blue, and dark blue (for that icy look!). The light blue almost needs to be a whitish or creamish light blue, since it is the background and is going to make the design of the quilt stand out, so the lighter it is, the better. There also needs to be a very good contrast between the medium and the dark colors. As for the fussy cut print, the fabric that is going to be next to it in the quilt is the medium fabric, so make sure there is good contrast there. Of course, these are all just suggestions. You can change your colors around as you wish. To summarize, the light is the background, the medium is going to highlight your fussy cut and the dark is going to sort of frame the whole block. Refer to my sample fabrics below for an idea of what to look for.

Here are the fabric requirements for the quilt top using 4.5" fussy cuts (A 4.5" fussy cut will finish at 4", so your motif should look good at 4") . Please keep in mind that these are close approximations and not exact measurements.

Here are the fabric requirements to finish the quilt using 4.5" fussy cuts. Again, these are close approximations.

That's it for the fabric requirements. Watch for the next set of instructions, coming soon!