If you’ve ever wondered what you can get out of a half yard of fabric, you’re in the right place! Our in-depth half yard of fabric guide covers all you need to know, including the size of a half yard, how many squares you can cut, and how many strips you can make.
When buying fabric for your next quilt project, you might be looking into getting one of the precut fabric dimensions – the half yard.
The half yard is the largest precut dimension (if you’re not counting a full yard as a precut). So as you can imagine, there are many different ways you can cut it.
That’s why we thought we’d look into the half yard of fabric size, and different ways you can use it depending on the pieces or strips you need for your project.
Let’s dive in!
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What Size is a Half Yard of Fabric?
A half yard of fabric is 18 inches long and as wide as the fabric bolt.
Most quilting fabrics are 42 to 44 inches wide. But it’s always good to double-check the width before cutting.
If using fabric with a WOF (width of fabric) of 42 inches, a half yard of fabric dimensions are:
Length: 18 inches (half of 36 inches, which makes up a yard)
Width: Typically 42 inches (depending on the manufacturer)
How to cut a half yard of fabric?
Normally when cutting fabric into smaller pieces, you want to cut it in a way that will use the least fabric (or provide the least fabric waste).
There are some exceptions to this rule, for example:
- If you’re using directional fabric, you will probably want to consider the direction of the print when cutting
- If you’re fussy cutting (meaning you want a certain motive from the print visible on the piece you cut)
But as I’ve said, most often we just want to know how many pieces we can cut the most effectively.
We’ll look into two scenarios of cutting up a half yard of fabric: cutting it into squares and cutting it into strips.
How Many Squares Can You Cut From a Half Yard of Fabric?
The easiest way to calculate how many squares (or rectangles, for that matter) you can cut from a half yard of fabric is with our quilting calculator app, Quilt Geek.
Squares from a Half Yard – Calculation with App
Quilt Geek’s ‘Pieces from Fabric’ calculator makes it super simple, here’s how.
Begin by entering the size of the pieces you need to cut – let’s say we want 7×7” pieces. From the list of precuts, choose ‘half yard’.
Press calculate and Quilt Geek will provide two possible placements: the default placement and the flipped placement.
Of course, these two will be identical if you’re cutting your half yard into squares. But you might get different max numbers of pieces you can cut when you’re cutting into rectangles – depending on the placement of the pieces.
For 7×7” Quilt Geek calculates that you can get a maxim of 12 pieces from a half yard. Easy, right?
Quilt Geek’s handy Pieces from Fabric Calculator calculates how many pieces you can cut from any starting fabric dimension.
Just enter the required piece size and get the calculation done in seconds!
Learn more about Quilt Geek’s 20+ calculators and charts here or get started right away:
Squares from a Half Yard – Pen-and-Paper Calculation
Of course, you can also do this the old school way, so without the app.
Generally, to calculate the number of squares you can cut from a half yard, you need to:
- Divide 42’’ by the size of the squares you want to cut (round the number down to the nearest whole number).
- Divide 18’’ by the size of the squares you want to cut (round the number down to the nearest whole number).
- Then, multiply the numbers you got to get the total number of squares.
Here is an example: How many 7” squares from a half yard?
- 42’’ : 7’’ = 6
- 18’’ : 7’’ = 2.6 → round down to 2
- 6 x 2 = 12
You can get 12 (twelve) 7’’ squares from a half yard.
Squares from a Half Yard Reference Sheet
To make it a bit easier, we’ve put together a reference sheet using Quilt Geek to provide you the number of squares you can cut from a half yard of fabric depending on the size of the required squares.
The reference sheet assumes a half yard is 42’’ x 18’’.
| Required square size | Number of squares from a half yard |
|---|---|
| 1” | 756 |
| 1.5” | 336 |
| 2” | 189 |
| 2.5” | 112 |
| 3” | 84 |
| 3.5” | 60 |
| 4” | 40 |
| 4.5” | 36 |
| 5” | 24 |
| 5.5” | 21 |
| 6” | 21 |
| 6.5” | 12 |
| 7” | 12 |
| 7.5” | 10 |
| 8” | 10 |
| 8.5” | 8 |
| 9” | 8 |
| 9.5” | 4 |
| 10” | 4 |
How Many Strips Can You Cut From a Half Yard
If you want to cut half yard of fabric into strips, you have two options: cutting lengthwise and cutting crosswise.
When cutting strips from a half yard of fabric, it usually makes more sense to cut along the length of the half yard (so along the WOF). That’s because these strips are 42” long compered to the 18” strips that you get when cutting vertically.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you HAVE to cut it this way. Depending on the project you’re making it might make more sense to cut vertically.
Strips from a Half Yard – Calculation with App
If you’re not into quilt math, don’t worry – Quilt Geek also has a ‘Strips from Fabric’ calculator that – you’ve guessed it – calculates how many strips you can cut from a half yard (on any other fabric dimension).
Begin by entering the width of the strips you want to cut (let’s say we need 4” strips) and choose the half yard of fabric as your starting fabric size.
Press Calculate and tadaaa – Quilt Geek will provide how many fabric strips you can cut from a half yard two ways:
Horizontal cutting: the max no. of strips you can cut horizontally – in our case,e it’s 4 strips with a total length of 168”
Vertical cutting: the max no. of strips you can cut vertically – in our case, it’s 10 strips with a total length of 180”
Quilt Geek even provides the total length of all strips combined in case you need this to make binding or something else where you need to know the length you’re getting.
PRO TIP: As you can see, here you’re actually getting more length with the vertical cutting – despite the fact that the strips are longer with the horizontal cutting.
Strips from a Half Yard – Pen-and-Paper Calculation
Of course, you can also do this calculator by yourself without the app.
Divide the width of the half yard (18”) by the width of the strips you need to get the number of strips with horizontal cutting.
OR Divide the length of the half yard (42”) by the width of the strips you need to get the number of strips with vertical cutting.
Round up to the nearest whole number.
Here is an example: How many 4’’ strips from a half yard?
Cutting horizontally (first picture):
18” : 4” = 4.5 → round down to 4
You get 4 (four) strips measuring 42’’ x 4’’ from a half yard.
Cutting vertically (second picture):
42” : 4” = 10.5 → round down to 10
You get 10 (ten) strips measuring 4’’ x 18’’ from a half yard.
Strips from a Half Yard Reference Sheet
Again, we want to make this as easy for you as possible so we ran the numbers in Quilt Geek and put together this reference sheet. The reference sheet includes different strip widths and the direction of the cut.
The reference sheet assumes a half yard of fabric is 42’’ x 18’’.
| Required strip width | Number of strips from a HY Cutting horizontally | Number of strips from a HY Cutting vertically |
|---|---|---|
| 1” | 18 | 42 |
| 1.5” | 12 | 28 |
| 2” | 9 | 21 |
| 2.5” | 7 | 16 |
| 3” | 6 | 14 |
| 3.5” | 5 | 12 |
| 4” | 4 | 10 |
| 4.5” | 4 | 9 |
| 5” | 3 | 8 |
| 5.5” | 3 | 7 |
| 6” | 3 | 7 |
| 6.5” | 2 | 6 |
| 7” | 2 | 6 |
| 7.5” | 2 | 5 |
| 8” | 2 | 5 |
| 8.5” | 2 | 4 |
| 9” | 2 | 4 |
| 9.5” | 1 | 4 |
| 10” | 1 | 4 |
How to Use Half Yard of Fabric in Quilting
Because of their size, half yards are incredibly versatile in quilting. Here are some ideas for making the most of them:
- Patchwork Projects: Half yards will work well for most of your piecing. You can even cut them up into smaller precut sizes, like charm squares, layer cakes, or mini charms.
- Borders and Sashing: The length of a half yard is ideal for cutting strips to use as sashing or borders in your quilt design.
- Binding: Use half yards to cut binding strips for finishing your quilt edges.
- Mix-and-Match Stash Building: Collect half yards in different prints and colors to build a diverse fabric stash for future projects.
Browse our blog to get ideas for your next quilting projects. Get inspired by our ultimate list of patterns you need to make this year, or start small and make one of our fun small quilting projects. The sky is the limit!
Loving precuts? Make sure you read our guide on precut fabrics and also our in-depth fat-quarter guide!
And if you’re looking for projects to make with precuts, check out 40+ layer FREE cake patterns and our 50+ fat-quarter-friendly patterns.
