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QuiltSandwich Overview

QuiltSandwich is not a quilt designer. It is a powerful set of calculators and other notions that make it faster and easier to gather and prepare fabric for sewing.

QuiltSandwich is unique because the tools work together and are helpful throughout the process of gathering and preparing fabric.  Each tool can also be used on it's own — so you can work the way you want to work, in the way that best fits a project at that moment.

This guide shows screenshots from an iPhone. However, QuiltSandwich can be used on either an iPhone or iPad. All settings are available on both. One advantage of the iPad is it is able to show the yardage calculator and cutting diagram on one screen.

1.To calculate yardage for a Project, gather Piece count and size by fabric

To calculate yardage, determine for each piece how many are needed in each fabric and their finished size. (To work in cut sizes set the Seam Allowance to 0”.)

This design has —

  • Squares (6x6)

  • Squares (3x3)

  • Rectangles (1.5x6)

  • Half-square triangles (3x3).

To calculate yardage for a particular piece —

  • Open the yardage calculator.

  • Scroll to piece

  • Enter the count and finished size. (For a quick answer leave the calculator set to the standard defaults of ¼” seam allowance and 44” wide fabric. Tap ‘Switch’ in the upper left for the full Yardage Calculator with the settings for allowances, layout, etc. that are hidden in Quick Calc.)

  • Note the yardage.

  • Open the cutting diagram — tap Scissors button — to see the recommended layout, strips and allowance.

2. Add project to QuiltSandwich

  1. Tap 'Quilt Projects'

2. Tap '+ New Quilt'

For a free quilt design, tap '⬇︎PATTERNS' to download. Use Quilt Sandwich to edit fabrics or re-size the quilt.

3. Pick Add New or a copy option

'Copy Quilt w/Fabrics' makes a copy of another quilt in Quilt Sandwich that includes all the pieces and all the assigned fabrics.

'Copy Quilt w/out Fabrics' makes a copy that includes all the pieces, however, there are no assigned fabrics.

4. Give quilt a name, size and an image. (Image can be added later.)

3. Add quilt pieces

1. Open the new project. It will always be added at the top of the list. Use tap-and-drag to rearrange project list.

2. Tap '+New Piece' and choose ‘Add Piece from Calculator’.

3. Choose the piece shape and enter the piece finished size.

Scroll down to adjust the allowances and other settings.

NOTE: If you are working with cut sizes enter the piece cut size AND set the seam allowance to zero.

Tap ‘Save’ and the piece is added with placeholder for a fabric you decide to add to the piece.

NOTES ABOUT CALCULATIONS

  • Yardage Calculations are rounded up to the nearest 1/8 yard. Be aware that when the option ‘Least Fabric’ is selected, calculations are run twice in the background, first orienting pieces in one direction and then the other. The layout that uses the least fabric is shown.

  • The yardage for each piece is calculated independently. So, the cutting diagrams for multiple pieces from the same fabric will likely not be optimized, careful review should result in opportunities to adjust allowances and buy less fabric overall.

  • If you are working with cut sizes remember to set the seam allowance to zero in the Calculator. To go to Calculator, tap Switch to toggle out of Quick Calc.

4. Add fabrics

In this step, we’ll add fabrics to the fabric stash independent of a project, instead of adding with a piece as it is added to a project.This makes fabrics available to select when pieces are added using the option 'Add Piece from Fabrics'.

1. On the home screen, tap 'Fabric Stash' to add a fabric.

(Or, from the pieces list, tap a fabric orange placeholder square to add a fabric to both the piece and to the Fabric Stash.)

2. Tap '+ New Fabric', choose —

  • Snap a Picture — to open the Camera

  • Photo Library Image — to open the Camera Roll (including screenshots of internet fabrics!)

  • App Image —to choose a saved image

3. Tap a color tile to see basic info about it. As you'd expect, new fabrics come in set to defaults which can be edited.

Arrange color tiles using tap-and-drag.

4. To see how well one fabric will look beside another Tap 'COMPARE Fabrics Side-by-Side' to bring up a pair of large swatches that you can swipe through (top and bottom).

More helpful tools and features

Assess quilt top colors with Color Mix. It is a unique and powerful tool to see the overall impression and the compatibility of colors in the quilt top . It displays quilt top fabrics in the proportion they will have in the final quilt top.

Set Color Mix to Gray Scale to reveals the tone of each fabric.

Calculate yardage for the binding, backing and batting.

Scroll through the pieces list in the Yardage Calculator to find —
• Binding: Straight-Grain or Bias
• Backing: Best Fit, Vertical or Horizontal
• Batting: Best Fit, Vertical or Horizontal

Notions has fabric lists to help stay organized during gathering and cutting pieces.

  • Fabric Checklist lists all the fabrics in the project

  • Fabric List lists fabrics with the pieces to be cut

  • Pattern PDFs has all the cutting diagrams

Open the Journal to add project notes and photos.

Journal also has the pattern for a Pixel Quilt imported from Color Hints Mosaic.

The Journal can be saved as a PDF to Print or Share.

Triangle Calculators convert Triangle Finished Size dimensions into Cut Size


This is a set of calculators will use finished size to calculate cut size dimensions for: Half Rectangles, Half Square & Corner and Quarter Square & Side Setting Triangles.

MORE TOOLS IN NOTIONS

Size it! calculator
Figures the %  needed to either enlarge or reduce to get from the size of an original size to a new, desired size.

Share a project / Save a project
The SHARE & Archive tool builds a file of a quilt project file that can either be Shared to another device with QuiltSandwich or Saved to Files.

Manage images stored in QuiltSandwich
App Images displays all images stored in the app independent of their project for fabric. Especially helpful when you need to find images that are no longer needed to delete.

Reference table of common sizes for mattresses, pillowcase & pillows, and batting.

Conversion tables for units, including
Yards to inches, Decimal equivalents, Inches to millimeters, Yards to meters.

How-to guide for making Pixel Quilts

Pixel quilts are a unique way to record a favorite memory or create a quilt with a unique creative vision.

Most of the tools to create a pixel quilt can be expensive and complicated. Or you have to give up creative control and send an image off to an expensive service and hope they create the pattern you imagine.

Not if you have QuiltSandwich!

The image-to-pixels app, Color Hints Mosaic (CH Mosaic), gives you control over the number of colors and level of abstraction to pixelate the image. On import into Quilt Sandwich the pixels and colors are transformed into a project with a PDF pattern saved in the Journal.

The guide in Notions, written by Quilt Sandwich, outlines the steps.