Quilt Binding Calculator
Binding is the last step and the easiest one to come up short on. Enter your quilt size and strip width to get the total binding length, how many strips to cut, and the fabric yardage — with allowance for corners and joins.
Ten to fifteen inches covers mitred corners and closing the loop.
Formula & how it works
Perimeter is 2 × (width + length), and total binding is that plus your corner and joining allowance. Each strip yields the usable fabric width less the seam allowance used to join it, so strips needed is ceil(total ÷ usable per strip).
Fabric required is strips × strip width, divided by 36 for yards.
Worked example
A 60 × 80 inch quilt has a 280 inch perimeter; adding 12 inches gives 292 inches of binding. From 44-inch fabric, seven strips cut across the width cover it, and at 2.5 inches wide that is 17.5 inches of fabric — about half a yard.
Binding well
Always add for corners
Mitred corners consume a little extra at each turn, and closing the loop where the two ends meet needs several inches of overlap to join neatly. Cutting to the bare perimeter is the classic way to end up one strip short with the quilt already half-bound.
Strip width sets the finished look
For double-fold binding, 2.5 inches is the standard and finishes at roughly three eighths of an inch. Going narrower produces a crisp, tight edge that suits low-loft batting, while thicker battings need a slightly wider strip to wrap around the extra bulk comfortably.
Straight or bias
Straight strips cut across the fabric are efficient and perfectly good for square corners. Bias binding, cut at 45 degrees, has the stretch needed for curved or scalloped edges and wears slightly better on a quilt that will be used hard — but it takes noticeably more fabric.