Aully

I am making a Rail Fence quilt it originaly had 3 rows that the finished block size would be 4.75" by 5.75". With a 2" border all the way around. The full finished quilt size would have been 51.50" by 61.50".

I want to add 2 more rows on to it so it will be 5 rows but I can not figure out the math, so the blocks will be bigger than the 4.75" by 5.75" but what size will they be? and how big will the quilt be?

I tryed using my Quilt Wizard to help but it did not. :( I think the 3 rows are 4.75 by 1 7/16 and I wan't to add 2 more rows the same size.

I hope I made sence as to what I am doing.

Please help and Thanks!

maine ladybug

I'd be happy to try and help, but I don't understand quiet what you mean. Do you want the quilt to remain 51 1/2 by 61 1/2, but have more rows? Or do you just want to add more rows making it a larger quilt?
If you want to just make it larger, just make the blocks the same size as the ones you are making, just count how many more you need to make to get it the size you want.

fidgety

will this help you at all? it makes a bigger block which will give you a bigger quilt..

http://www.quilterscache.com/R/RailFenceBlock.html

Aully

I will be making the quilt larger by adding on the 2 rows, but I can figure out the new finished size of block and quilt?

Holice

something in your original post doesn't add up for me.
I thought rail fence was square yet your block is 4.75 x 5.75 They are not going to match up I agree with the other post - not sure what you want to do here. Make it easy on your self and drop the fractions and use even sizes strips with your 1/2" seam allowances. From your original post it sounds like your blocks may be 10" finished but can't really tell with the limited information.

maine ladybug

In the rail fence pattern, you can make your block about any size you would like it to be, BUT it is always a square. So, it would be say, 9 12/ X 9 1/2, not the measurements you gave which make a rectangle not a square. If all the blocks are that size then 5 acrossed would measure 45 1/2 inches the same for 5 blocks down. Then add the 2 inch border is would be 47 1/2 X 47 1/2.
If you are going to make the blocks 12 1/2 X 12 1/2 then 5 down and across would make the rows 60 1/2 X 60 1/2 add the 2 inch border and you get 62 1/2 X 62 12.
Does that make sense to you?
Of course if you want the quilt to be a rectangle instead of a square you need more rows going in one direction, say, 5 blocks across and 7 blocks down. Then you would get ( with a 12 1/2 inch block ) 60 1/2 X 84 1/2 and then add the border.
Don't know if this helps, but I tried.

Aully

Yes the finished block size is 10" for the three rows and I only use 1/4" seams.

Aully

The quilt is 10 blocks across and 10 Blocks down? Is that not a square? It is for our bed if I can get it to fit. lol!

maine ladybug

Yes, that would make a square, but do you want a square? Most beds I know about aren't square. LOL

MTS

Ok, I'm going to take a crack at this. But it's early so....who knows?? And I could be totally wrong so this could be a totally wasted excercise. :mrgreen:

If I reread the op and the subsequent posts, I think Aully wants to transform a 3 RAIL block into a 5 RAIL block, AND have the overall size of the quilt be a bit larger. That's where all the weird numbers were coming from. See the first picture.

If I'm correct, then the rest makes sense. If not, go have coffee and ignore the rest.

I'm assuming you haven't cut anything yet (let's hope so) because I would just ignore those measurements from the pattern and start over to get something very close in size to what you want.

It's much easier to decide on how wide you want each of the strips to be, AND then cut the length based on what the total size will be when they're sewn together. That way you get a nice square block, and you're not working with 7/16 measurements. Because that is just painful. Especially in a such a simple block like the Rail Fence.

For a five rail block, if you were to make each rail 1.5 FINISHED (cut 2" ), each Rail Fence block would be 7.5" FINISHED.

In a 7 x 8 block layout with a 2" FINISHED border (cut 2.5" ), the dimensions of the quilt would be 56.5"x 64", so that's pretty close to where you started out. (2nd picture)

Now if you want to make a bigger quilt, you have two choices:
1- just add more rows to the quilt top and/or make the rows longer.
or
2- make the blocks bigger, and add the blocks you need to achieve the size you want.

You have to think about scale as well. Obviously, 5" blocks on a king size bed might not be as appropriate as 10" blocks. It depends on the pattern.

The last 2 pics are for an approx 94" square quilt top.
The first has the same 7.5" blocks in 12x12 block layout,
and the 2nd pic has 10" blocks in a 9x9 block layout.
Both create the exact same size quilt top.

Also think about the contrast between your rails.
Are they well defined so the pattern shows up clearly on a large quilt?

Picture that on your bed.

Which scale do you prefer?

The 10" blocks would have rails that are CUT 2.5" wide.
Depending on the WOF - if you can get at least 42" workable length - you'd be able to get 4 blocks from each strip set. But let's not get ahead right now.

What size bed to you have - queen or king?
How long to you like your overhang to be on the sides & bottom?
Pick the scale size you like and then we can figure out the exact number of blocks you need. Although you can figure on at least 2 yards of each of the five fabrics.
Easy. ;-)

Was that what you were trying to figure out? If yes, I hope this helped.