7 FREE Quilt Apps for Android & iPhone

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Like planning new quilt designs or chatting with fellow quilters while using your phone or tablet? What about calculating backing fabric sizes without having to pick up a pencil?

If so, you’re in for a treat when you see all the quilt design and quilting calculator apps that assist with calculations and fulfill crafty desires. 

I downloaded and played with all the quilting apps I could find, and here’s my list of the best free quilt apps!

Best Quilt Apps for iPad, iPhone, and Android

Apps can be used for fabric calculation, quilt block design, quilt layout, stash organizing, and even chatting with quilter friends. 

While no quilting app will yet replace robust software like Electric Quilt 8, apps are still super handy on your phone or tablet.

Some work on Android and iOS operating systems, while others are exclusive to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Some apps work only on iPads, whereas others also work on iPhones.

Lastly, if you want more than just a quilting app for your phone, check out these free online quilt design software for your computer. For me, phone apps are easier to use than computer-based programs, but they don’t have as many features. 

1. Robert Kaufman QuiltingCalc

Available in the Google Play Store and Apple Play Store, the RK Quilting Calculator app is a must-have for the math-averse or for those who like to double-check their calculations before cutting precious fabric. 

These are my favorite calculations to use in the app:

• Set-in and Corner Triangle: Remember those 45-45-90 triangles with their √2 hypotenuses from geometry class? Thankfully, you don’t need to if you use this quilting calculator app to figure out the measurements for the HSTs and QSTs you need for your blocks. 
• Pieces to Yardage Area: If you don’t have a pattern with the required yardages listed, this calculator tells you how much fabric you need to create the desired number of pieces.
• Piece Count: The reverse of the above, this calculator determines how many pieces of a specific sized shape can be cut from a piece of fabric (enter dimensions for both.)
• Binding: Calculate the yardage of fabric required to bind a quilt. You enter the width of the fabric, binding strip width, and quilt dimensions. You can also use the Border Calculator to calculate border fabric yardage by inputting the same dimensions. 

And for y’all who quilt with the metric system, you can switch from inches to cm and meters. 

2. Quilting Tutorials by MSQC

Downloadable for Android or iOS, Quilting Tutorials by MSQC is an app worth downloading for its high-quality quilting tutorials. It’s made by Missouri Star Quilt Co. (MSQC), a leader in the quilting industry.

This is an incredible app if you want a project video and tutorial, project supplies at a click, and the pattern (some free, most not). Each week (or so), there’s a new quilt project in the app feed. Looking through the beautiful past projects is such an inspiration!

Or, if you need to master a specific skill, you can search by phrase and access all videos about that topic. For instance, binding a quilt, as shown in my screenshot above. There are over ten years of videos here; you can watch them all in the app. 

Lastly, if you have a subscription to MSQC, you can also download their BLOCK MSQC app to view those issues online. 

3. Quilt Cat

Quilt Cat is a fun, useful, and free quilt design app (available only in the Google Play Store) that lets you design individual quilt blocks and use built-in blocks to make quilt layouts.

I’m so surprised at how many FREE features this app offers!

First, you’ll see the 335 geometric quilt blocks to play with when entering the app. For each block, you can edit colors and make other basic modifications. 

Once done, access the cutting chart describing the number of pieces of each size and shape needed to complete the block. Sewing instructions aren’t included, but the blocks are simple enough to figure out the sewing order yourself. 

While there is a premium version you can pay to access more features, you can also choose to watch an ad video instead to unlock the feature. One such example is the pattern editor.

With the pattern editor, you can create quilt block designs from scratch. When creating, instructions pop up on the screen guiding you along. You can create shapes, change colors, import your fabric stash, etc.

Overall, learning to use the app is SO easy, and Quilt Cat also has a Youtube channel with a few tutorials for users having difficulty learning. 

Once you’ve created all the blocks you want, lay them out in a quilt of your size and customize sashing, borders, and more. 

One downfall of the app is applique quilt blocks aren’t possible, nor is the creation of blocks using foundation paper piecing. Also, there are many more complex tasks that computer-based quilt software can accomplish. 

4. Quiltspace 

QuiltSpace is an app available in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store with many good reviews.

What differentiates it from other apps is it’s a quilting community, or a “space,” for like-minded quilters to share designs and finished projects. 

Kind of like Facebook or other social media platforms, you share photos of your quilts (or ask for advice) and then like, comment, or share on others’ projects. You can also make Connections with other quilters. QuiltSpace averages 5-10 new posts/day at the time of writing. 

While quilters are still using this platform to share ideas, several app sections are outdated, and the app itself was last updated in 2019.

For instance, the upcoming Quilt Shows section hasn’t been updated since 2020. And the “Quiltspace Trending” shows posts from 2018. 

Now that many more people have acquired quilting as a pandemic hobby, I think there could be a real promise for this app if the developers updated and promoted it more!

5. Blocks Quilt App 

The Blocks app is a newer, community-geared app that I expect to become more popular over time. (Right now, it’s only on the Google Play store, but this could change anytime.)

Each week, the app presents the week’s block (and a handful of other blocks).

These blocks include fabric requirements and piecing instructions. Users then quilt the block and post pictures on the app or on the two corresponding Facebook pages for other quilters to admire. (Quilting Patterns & Tutorials is one of the Facebook groups.)

Overall, this app is an excellent place for beginners to start: sewing one manageable block a week. At the end of the year, you then have 52 blocks–more than enough for a quilt! 

Some blocks require lots of cutting, but these are primarily geometric blocks, so if you have an Accuquilt with the Qube dies or another fabric cutting machine, you can use this to cut the shapes perfectly!

6. Stash Star Fabric (currently offline)

Available only for Apple users, the Stash Star Fabric app helps you organize your fabric stash. 

Upload pictures and details about your fabrics by pressing the plus button. 

Add a photo, name, colors, dimensions, and other information about the fabric. You can also include things like where you’ve stored the fabric and where you purchased it. (This is helpful for mom-brain and those fabrics that haven’t seen the light of day since I bought them years ago!)

Once you’ve uploaded your fabrics, you can group and filter them by your preferred parameters. And, the next time you need fabric information on the go, open your app and view your stash. (You can also export your fabric stash in a big list at your convenience, but I don’t think you can sync between devices.)

The app is free to use, but to remove ads, you must upgrade to a paid version. 

7. Cora-Sew Your Stash

An alternative to Stash Star Fabric is Cora-Sew Your Fabric Stash, which has a few extra parameters like whether you’ve prewashed the fabric.

Unfortunately, you can only add five fabrics before paying the upgrade fee ($6.99). Also, you cannot sync the app between your Apple devices. 

A Premium Quilt App Worth Checking Out

Are free quilt design apps not doing enough for you? In that case, check out the popular quilt design app for iPad, Quiltography, which costs $14.99 in the Apple App Store. It’s frequently updated and is highly rated. 

In addition to being a quilt block designer and layout planner, you can store your fabric stash and even turn photos into pixellated quilt designs. 

If you only want the photo quilt ability, you can buy this feature as a standalone app here: photoQuilt by Quiltography.

 

And that’s my list of the best free quilt design apps, free quilting calculator apps, and fabric stash organizers. (Also, since apps fade in and out over time, please let me know if anything is outdated or if there are new apps out there I need to download and try out.)

Like embroidery? There are also many free embroidery apps to download, too!