Are you making a bed quilted comforter, a quilted coverlet, or a quilted bed throw for your personal bed or as a gift for someone else? What size quilt will you be sewing? The quilt coverlet needs to fit mattress.

Making a quilted comforter or a coverlet is a large project which will take months or a year or more to complete. Select a design with your favorite colors so you enjoy every minute of the stitching process. Your love for the receiver of your gift will maintain the long process.

The major question to be concerned about is the finished size of the quilt coverlet which needs to fit the mattress for the most decorative beauty and functional service.

While designing your quilt consider bed throw rugs:

The border – Plain, ruffle, box, or an additional under skirt
Bed construction – How will the quilt lie on the mattress to be a part of the bed design? Will the quilt lie flat or will it need to be tucked in?
Pillows – Will the quilt cover pillows or will coordinating pillows be made to compliment the bed cover?
Will the fabric be washed before or after construction? For myself I prefer washing materials before construction to rid of extra dyes and to manage shrinkage.
Measurements should be accurate regardless if it is a solid or a patterned fabric. Decide if you will be making a coverlet or a comforter. Will you be making pillow shams or quilted pillow cases?
Buy all yardage at the same time. If you should need to patch or add onto because of miscalculations, you will need to be prepared to avoid dye match or patterns which may not be available in the future.
Finished size – Determine measurements at the very beginning as it is more difficult to add additional fabric and to maintain design.
Measure the mattress in coordination with the quilt design to determine quilt size. There are standard, custom, water-bed, day bed, foam and others. Sometimes obtaining measurements are not always available, as in a gift. When in doubt, it is usually safe to make a queen size quilt cover.

Standard sizes for mattresses are:

Crib: 28″ x 52″
Youth: 33″ x 62″
Twin: 39″ x 75″
Double: 54″ x 75″
Queen: 60″ x 80″
King: 78″ x 80″
Mattress thickness: 10″
Standard sizes for water-bed mattresses are:

Twin: 39″ x 75″
Single: 48″ x 84″
Queen: 60″ x 84″
King: 72″ x 84″
Mattress thickness: 9″
Foam beds:

Twin: 39″ x 75″
Full: 54″ x 75″
Queen: 60″ x 80″
King- 76″ x 80″
Mattress thickness 4″ to 18″
Standard mattress measurements from a chart are helpful, but do get measurements to be certain. The quilt size is needed for the final coverlet quilting design along with other measurements. Added fabric for extra width, length, and depth may be necessary. The depth or thickness of a mattress with or without box springs and other design features are inconsistent.

Because measurements are inconsistent you can understand why to make a quilt coverlet fit your mattress will have its challenges.

You will also need to know measurements for different types of pillows. There may be a decision to make quilted pillow cases or covers or quilted edging accents. A pillow sham can be any size you wish.