Binding Calculator

How are we calculating binding?

Figuring out how much binding you’ll need isn’t terribly complicated, but there are a couple of steps involved. To calculate the number of strips to cut and the amount of yardage required, you’ll need the following information on hand:

  • Width of Fabric (WOF)

  • Height of the quilt

  • Length of the quilt

  • Width of your binding strips (before you’ll sew or fold them over to make the tape)

And, while it isn’t necessary to calculate the yardage, you probably know what your personal preference is for what fraction of a yard you want to round up to (if I’m buying from a store, it’s a quarter yard, if I’m diving into my stash, it’s to the inch!).

Step 1: Calculate the perimeter of the quilt

Add the width and length of your quilt, multiply it by two, then add 10 to ensure that you’ll have enough length to join the ends together.

Length of Tape = (Width of Quilt + Length of Quilt) x 2 + 10

Step 2: Calculate the No. of strips needed

One you have the length of binding tape you’ll need, divide it by your WOF measurement minus 2, and round up to the next whole number to get the number of strips you’ll need to cut. Why minus 2? I always err on the side of caution and factor in a couple inches on each strip to account for fabric that gets “eaten” when constructing the tape.

Number of Strips (rounded up) = Length of Tape / (Width of Fabric - 2)

step 3: Calculate the yardage

To figure out how much yardage you need, take the width of your binding strips and multiply it by the number of WOF strips you’ll need, divide that number by 36 and round up to the nearest fraction of a yard that your local quilt shop cuts to (for some folks, that’s an eighth, a quarter, or a third).

Yardage (round up to nearest fraction) = (Number of Strips) * (Width of Tape) / 36