Plan your quilt binding
Count whole strips and work out how much fabric to buy.
Cut whole binding strips
8 strips
8 × 2.5 in = 20 in of fabric
before store rounding or buffer.
Then plan your purchase
- Before extra buffer
- 0.625 yd
- Extra practical buffer
- 0 in
- Purchase including buffer
- 0.625 yd
Purchase amounts rounded up to 0.125 yd increments.
Cross-grain binding for a rectangular quilt. Your total binding target must already include joins and tails. Store rounding and extra buffer are separate.
Check the binding assumptions ↗Before you cut
The answer depends on what each number includes. Keep the allowance accounting in one place.
1. Establish the raw target
A quilt’s perimeter is 2 × (length + width). It is a starting point, not a finished binding requirement. Joins, corners, and finishing tails need the allowance specified by your chosen binding method.
Work out a raw target R using that method, then enter it here. Both allowance-method options are labels for your accounting; neither silently adds fabric. Do not subtract join losses here if you already included them when finding R.
2. Count whole strips, not a fraction of a strip
Measure usable width U after removing selvages and unusable edges. A bolt width or a default from another calculator may differ from what you can actually cut.
Whole strips N = round up (R ÷ U)
Fabric length F = N × cut strip width
For a raw target of 295 inches, 40 usable inches needs 8 strips. At 2½ inches per strip, that is 20 inches of fabric along the selvage. With 43 usable inches, it is 7 strips and 17½ inches. The width changes the whole-strip boundary.
3. Keep store rounding and a practical buffer separate
Convert fabric length to yards by dividing by 36. Round up to the increment your store sells. At an illustrative ⅛-yard increment, 20 inches rounds to ⅝ yard; 17½ inches rounds to ½ yard.
Those figures are purchase rounding only. Add a separate, deliberate buffer for squaring, shrinkage, or your practical preference. The card shows the pure rounded amount and the rounded amount after your buffer so they cannot be mistaken for the same thing.
This is a cross-grain calculation for rectangular quilts. It does not plan bias binding, curves, backing, or every detail of a sewing method.
Sources and scope
- Moda Fabrics · Binding BasicsComplete sewing instruction, usable width, strip rounding, and practical margins.
- Quilter’s Paradise · Binding CalculatorAnother binding reference with its own inputs and allowance choices.
Sources last checked 31 October 2026.