THE CUTTING TABLE
Quilt binding calculator: yardage and strip count
A 60 × 80 inch quilt needs 8 binding strips cut 2½ inches wide, 0.625 yards of 42-inch fabric. Enter your own quilt size below; the calculator counts straight-grain strips with the fabric lost to diagonal joins included.
YOUR FABRIC ESTIMATE
0.625 yards
Rounded UP to your selected purchase increment.
8 strips
- Cut each strip
- 2.5 × 42 inches
- Required binding length
- 290 inches
- Internal diagonal joins
- 7
- Length lost to joins
- 17.5 inches
- Usable sewn chain
- 318.5 inches
What this estimate includes
Each internal 45-degree join consumes one cut-strip width along the binding chain. A quarter-inch trimming allowance does not create an additional longitudinal deduction. Your end allowance covers closure; this model does not calculate a final diagonal closure seam.
This is a straight-grain strip calculation. Bias binding, curved-edge requirements, shrinkage, and print matching need their own allowances. Strip width is the width you cut, not the finished width on the quilt.
Worked example
Take a 60 × 80 inch quilt with the default allowances: strips cut 2½ inches wide across 42 usable inches of fabric and 10 inches to close the ends.
- Measure the edge: 2 × (60 + 80) + 10 = 290 inches of binding.
- Each diagonal join between strips uses one strip width of length. 8 strips joined with 7 seams give 318.5 inches, which covers the edge.
- 8 strips × 2½ inches = 20 inches of fabric, or 0.56 yards.
- Rounded up to the next ⅛ yard, you buy 0.625 yards.
Standard sizes from crib to California king, with backing and binding yardage for each, are in the quilt size chart. Need the back too? The backing calculator works out panels and yardage.