The quilt fabric calculator that answers in plain fractions
Type in the finished size of your quilt top. You will get backing, binding, and batting — all on this one screen.
Always measure your own quilt top — sizes vary. When in doubt, buy the larger amount; leftover backing makes lovely binding and labels.
Our math is the same math quilt shops use:
• Your backing needs to be bigger than the quilt top — we add your “extra on each side” (4 inches is the usual) to every side, because the backing shifts while you quilt.
• A 44″ bolt gives you about 42″ of usable width once the edges are trimmed square. A 108″ wideback gives about 106″.
• Yardage is always rounded UP to the nearest eighth of a yard — the way a store can actually cut it. We would rather you have two inches left over than come up two inches short.
• Binding strips are cut across a 44″ bolt, joined, and figured with 10 extra inches for joining and finishing the ends.
Our Quilt Size & Yardage Chart puts the common sizes and their fabric needs on one page you can print and keep at your cutting table.
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Quilting pulls the layers in and things shift. Long-arm quilters usually ask for 4 extra inches on every side; home quilters do fine with 3–4. That extra is already in our numbers.
We show you both. Lengthwise (grain running the long way) is sturdier and uses the fabric’s strength; crosswise sometimes takes a little less yardage. Either is fine for most quilts — pick the smaller number if your fabric has no directional print to match.
If your quilt fits the 108″ width, wideback means no seams, no piecing, and often less money than several yards of 44″. Our calculator tells you the wideback yardage side by side so you can compare at the store.
Batting should match your backing size, not just the quilt top. We name the smallest standard package that covers your backing — or tell you the size to cut from a roll.