RECOMMENDED
Along quilt height
5 yards
2 panels, each 42 × 88 inches.
Sewn width: 83 inches. 1 join.
THE CUTTING TABLE
Quilt backing calculator: yardage for any quilt size
A 60 × 80 inch quilt needs 5 yards of 42-inch-wide backing fabric, pieced from 2 panels, with 4 inches of overhang on every side. Enter your own quilt size and allowances below; the calculator compares full-width panel layouts with seam allowances included.
YOUR FABRIC ESTIMATE
5 yards
Rounded UP to your selected purchase increment.
2 panels
- Backing rectangle
- 68 × 88 inches
- Cut each panel
- 42 × 88 inches
- Panels run along quilt
- height
- Sewn combined width
- 83 inches
- Fabric before purchase rounding
- 176 inches / 4.8889 yards
Compare panel layouts
The recommendation uses the least purchased fabric. Check the panel direction against your print before cutting.
ALTERNATIVE
Along quilt width
5.75 yards
3 panels, each 42 × 68 inches.
Sewn width: 124 inches. 2 joins.
What this estimate includes
Each joined edge consumes its seam allowance. Two 42-inch panels with a half-inch allowance on each joining edge produce 83 inches of sewn width, not 84. Rotation is considered only when you allow it.
We compare full-width panels cut in one direction per layout. Mixed offcut layouts, pattern matching, shrinkage compensation, and diagonal piecing are not optimized. Add the allowances your quilter or fabric requires.
Worked example
Take a 60 × 80 inch quilt top with the default allowances: 4 inches of overhang on each side, 42 usable inches of fabric width and a half-inch seam allowance on each joining edge.
- Add the overhang to every side: the backing must be 68 × 88 inches.
- One 42-inch panel is too narrow, so the panels are joined. Each join uses half an inch from both edges, so 2 panels sew to 83 inches across.
- With the panels running along the quilt's height, each is cut 88 inches long: 176 inches of fabric, or 4.89 yards.
- Turning the panels the other way would take 3 panels and 5.75 yards, so the calculator recommends the height layout.
- Rounded up to the next ⅛ yard, you buy 5 yards.
Standard sizes from crib to California king, with backing and binding yardage for each, are in the quilt size chart. Finishing the edge? The binding calculator counts strips and yardage.