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Layer Cake Quilt Guide: Cakes, Sizes, and Whole Squares

Illustrative generated image of a stack of large floral cotton squares beside a patchwork quilt top in progress on a wooden table.

Published 2026-10-15. Updated 2026-10-15.

A layer cake is a stack of 10-inch squares, typically 42 pieces, though the count can change by collection. One cake plus background fabric finishes at 72 inches square in Moda's free Moda Love pattern. Two cakes, one solid and one printed, finish at 56 1/2 by 63 1/2 inches in the free Layer Cake Links pattern. One cake plus yardage can reach a twin or a full, depending on the pattern. If you keep every square whole and use the 1/4-inch seam Moda prints on that pattern, each square finishes at 9.5 inches, and 42 squares in a six-by-seven grid finish at 57 by 66.5 inches.

That 57-by-66.5 top is a throw. It is a little larger than the throw or lap Suzy Quilts lists at about 50 by 65 inches. It is not a twin. A twin on that chart is 70 by 90 inches, a queen is 90 by 108, and a king is 110 by 108. Those are the targets in the cake table below. Suzy also says a crib quilt is usually 36 by 52 inches, and that published sizes can vary by 4 to 8 inches, so measure the bed before you buy a second cake. The quilt size chart is the companion page for mattress names.

What a layer cake is

Fat Quarter Shop describes a Moda layer cake as 10-by-10 squares, similar to a charm pack and larger, typically 42 pieces. Other mills sell the same cut as 10-inch stackers. U Create defines the cut the same way: a precut square of 10 by 10 inches, packed as a coordinated set. The shop page that ranks first for this search, It's Sew Emma, sells patterns that use those 10-inch squares and lists finished sizes on individual pattern cards, including a toddler, a lap, and a twin. It is a catalog of paid patterns, not a cake-count table.

Precut 411, from Moda's own precut notes, is the buying rule of thumb: start with the layer cake because the 10-inch square shows the print, and one cake plus some yardage can make a good-sized top, even a twin or a full, when the pattern is written that way. The same note says 4 charm packs cover about as much print as one layer cake. The charm pack guide is the next page when your squares are the 5-inch charm cut.

Cakes for each size, if the squares stay whole

This plan uses only the 10-inch squares, a 1/4-inch seam on every side, and no sashing. Finished square = 10 minus 1/4 minus 1/4 = 9.5 inches. Columns are the smallest whole number of 9.5-inch squares that meets the target width. Rows do the same for length. Squares are columns times rows. Cakes are that square count divided by 42, rounded up. A cake you already own has 42 squares. A grid under that count still uses the cake. One extra square past 42 means a second cake.

Target	Grid	Squares	Cakes	Finished
Throw, 50 by 65	6 by 7	42	1	57 by 66.5
Twin, 70 by 90	8 by 10	80	2	76 by 95
Queen, 90 by 108	10 by 12	120	3	95 by 114
King, 110 by 108	12 by 12	144	4	114 by 114

Read the finished column, not the target, when you shop. Two cakes hold 84 squares. The twin row uses 80 and leaves 4. Three cakes hold 126 squares. The queen row uses 120 and leaves 6. Four cakes hold 168 squares. The king row uses 144 and leaves 24, enough for a border or a pillow if the pattern allows it. These leftovers are spare squares, not a promise that every pattern will use them.

A pattern that adds background yardage spends the cake differently. Moda Love uses 1 layer cake of 42 ten-inch squares plus background, sews 1/4-inch seams, and finishes at 72 by 72. That is one cake and a larger square than the whole-square throw, because half-square triangles bring in the background cloth. Layer Cake Links uses two cakes and finishes at 56 1/2 by 63 1/2, close to a throw, with both cakes in the top.

Layouts that keep the 10-inch print large

A whole-square grid keeps each print at 9.5 inches finished. That is the layout to choose when the fabric is the point. You lose 1/4 inch on every side to the seam, and the motif stays in one patch.

A four-patch does the opposite. Moda's speedy four-patch sews two 10-inch squares together, cuts them, and turns the cuts into four-patches. The 10-inch print is split. Use that method when you want a small repeat, not when you bought the cake to show a large floral.

Half-square triangles sit in between. Moda Love marks 18 of the 10-inch squares, pairs them with background, sews 1/4 inch from both sides of a diagonal, and cuts on the line. Those prints become triangles. The same pattern also keeps 12 layer-cake squares whole, trimmed to the unfinished size the pattern names. If you want most of the cake to stay large, set aside the squares with the motifs you care about and cut only the plainer ones.

Sashing keeps the squares large too, and it spends yardage instead of cakes. A sashed top from one cake will be larger than 57 by 66.5 and smaller in square count than a twin grid. Count the sashing strips from the pattern, not from the table above. The table assumes the squares touch.

Free layer cake tutorials

Open these before you buy a second cake. Each one states a cut or a finished size.

Moda Love is the 72-inch square from one cake plus background, with 1/4-inch seams written on the page.
Layer Cake Links is the free Fat Quarter Shop pattern for 56 1/2 by 63 1/2 inches from one solid cake and one printed cake, with a video on the same page.
U Create's free layer cake list names Peaches and Cream, Arabesque and Landlocked from the Moda Bake Shop, a lattice tutorial, a silk-road layer cake, Layers of Charm, and a layer-cake sampler. It also links a cutting cheat sheet for the ways a 10-inch square can be sliced.
Precut 411 is the buying note: one cake plus yardage, up to a twin or a full, when the pattern says so.

The clear field quilt is coming soon at $8.99.

The limit of the cake table

The table is a whole-square plan. It is not the Moda Love size, and it is not the Layer Cake Links size. Add sashing, borders, or background and the cake count drops or the finished size grows. A collection that packs fewer or more than 42 squares changes the cakes column, not the finished size. The finished size is the grid times 9.5 inches. Count the squares in the stack you have, then divide by that stack to get the cakes.

What size quilt can one layer cake make?

One Moda layer cake is typically 42 squares of 10 inches. With background fabric, Moda's free Moda Love pattern finishes at 72 inches square. A whole-square grid of those 42 squares, sewn with a 1/4-inch seam, finishes at 57 by 66.5 inches.

How many layer cakes do you need for a twin, a queen, or a king?

Moda says one cake plus yardage can reach a twin or a full, depending on the pattern. A whole-square grid aimed at Suzy Quilts' twin of 70 by 90 inches needs 80 squares, which is 2 cakes. A queen of 90 by 108 inches needs 120 squares, or 3 cakes. A king of 110 by 108 inches needs 144 squares, or 4 cakes.

What size quilt can you make with 42 ten-inch squares?

Kept whole and sewn with a 1/4-inch seam, 42 squares finish at 9.5 inches each. Six across and seven down is 57 by 66.5 inches, a throw. Cut into half-square triangles with background, the same cake finishes at 72 inches square in Moda Love.

How do you make a quilt with a layer cake and keep the squares big?

Sew the 10-inch squares into a grid and leave each print in one piece. A four-patch cuts the square into smaller patches. Half-square triangles keep only the squares you set aside uncut.

Where can I find free layer cake quilt patterns?

U Create lists free layer cake tutorials, including Moda Bake Shop patterns and Layer Cake Links. Fat Quarter Shop's Layer Cake Links page is a free pattern for a 56 1/2 by 63 1/2 inch quilt from two cakes. Moda publishes the Moda Love layer cake pattern as a free file.

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