Figure out backing and binding fabric for your quilt size in seconds – plus a rough estimate for the pieced top, though your pattern’s own yardage is more accurate for that part.
Quilt Fabric Calculator
Enter your finished quilt size to estimate backing and binding fabric. Top fabric (the pieced front) depends heavily on your block pattern, so that figure is a rough estimate only.
How this is calculated: Backing adds 4″ of overhang per side, pieced into two fabric widths if needed. Binding accounts for the quilt's perimeter plus extra for corners and joining seams. The top-fabric figure is a rough area-based estimate (assumes ~75% cutting efficiency) – if your pattern states its own yardage requirement, use that instead, since piecing waste varies a lot by block design.
Backing fabric needs to be a bit larger than your quilt top on all sides (usually 4 inches of overhang per side) so the quilter has room to work with during longarm or machine quilting. If your quilt is wider than a single width of fabric plus overhang, you’ll need to piece two widths together, which roughly doubles the backing yardage.
Binding covers the raw edges around your quilt’s perimeter. This calculator adds extra length for mitered corners and the diagonal seam used to join binding strips into one continuous length, then converts that to yardage based on your chosen strip width.
Top (pieced front) fabric is the hardest to estimate generically, since it depends entirely on your block pattern and how efficiently the pieces cut from your yardage. Treat the figure here as a rough planning number, and use your specific pattern’s stated yardage whenever you have it.