Quilt sizes - what size should my quilt be?

Quilt sizes are really just personal preferences and depend on a couple things. Should your quilt cover the pillows on the bed? Should it fall all the way to the floor or only part way down the sides and bottom?

Most of us understand that "bedspread" means a bed covering that covers the pillows and falls all the way to the floor on the sides and the bottom. A "comforter" does not cover the pillows or fall to the floor.

So do you want your quilt to be like a bedspread or a comforter? Or a combination of them that does cover the pillows, but only falls part way down the sides. It's really up to you!

In their book The Art of Classic Quiltmaking, Harriet Hargrave and Sharyn Craig recommend the following finished quilt sizes for standard mattresses.

Two additional mattress sizes you might be interested in are:

Crib - 26" x 48" and the California King - 72" x 84"

Of course, it would be best to measure the actual bed that the quilt is for, but the standard mattress sizes shown above will get you started (width x length).

The height of the mattress will also affect the size. Standard mattresses are 8" to 10" thick. But the extra thick ones (sometimes called pillowtops) can be 16" to 18" thick.

Lastly, you need to allow for the shrinkage that happens when you do the actual quilting. The more quilting you do, the more shrinkage will happen. Figure on 5% of the unfinished size of the quilt top.

These are only recommendations. Measuring the bed and deciding on the style of the quilt first will ensure that the finished quilt will fit the bed perfectly!

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