• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Store
  • Training Academy Login
  • Subscribe

Alanda Craft

Quilting & Craft Tutorials, Reviews & More


  • Quilting
    • Quilting Tutorials
    • Quilting Blocks
    • Quilting Products
    • Quilting How To’s
    • Quilting Panels
  • ScanNCut
    • Brother ScanNCut Tutorials
    • ScanNCut DX
    • Canvas Workspace
    • ScanNCut Reviews
    • The Big List of Brother ScanNCut Tutorials
    • Brother Scan n Cut News & Updates
  • Sewing Projects
    • Bag Tutorials
    • Cushion Tutorials
    • Quick Projects
  • Paper Crafts
    • Paper Tutorials
    • Junk Journals
    • Mini Albums
    • Die Cutting Machines
    • Paper Craft Reviews
  • Tools We Love
    • Quilting Tools We Use
    • Top 10 Quilting Tools for Beginners
  • Readers Projects
  • Submit Your Project

How to Calculate Your Quilt Binding Fabric Requirements

Alanda Craft November 11, 2015 4 Comments This post may contain affiliate links.

Tweet
Pin8K
Share17
8K Shares

Once you have your quilt top, batting and backing put together, you will want to know how to calculate the amount of quilt binding you will need to finish it off.

Fortunately, the calculations are quite simple.

Watch the video below or scroll down for the step-by-step written instructions

The first step is to determine the perimeter or outside edge of your quilt.

  • Take a measurement across the quilt widthways. It doesn’t matter where you take this measurement it can be at the end of the quilt or across the middle.
  • Take a measurement of the length of the quilt, again it doesn’t matter where you take it from, either down the side or the middle of the quilt.

In my example the short sides were 14″ and the long sides were 33″.

Multiply each measurement by 2 as you have 2 short sides and two long sides.

  • 14 x 2 = 28,  33 x 2 = 66.

Add 28 and 66 together and you get a perimeter measurement of 94″.

Now add 10″ to allow for cutting off selvedges and sewing the strips together, making the perimeter of your quilt 104″.

calculate-binding

The next step is to determine how many strips of fabric you need to cut.

Measure your width of fabric (WOF). Usually, this will be  42″ -44″. I use 40″ in my calculation so that I have some excess fabric to work with.

  • Take the measurement of the perimeter and divide it by the measurement of the WOF, remember that I always use 40″. (perimeter) ÷ (WOF). So 104″ ÷ 40″ = 2.6.

Now we aren’t going to cut 2.6 strips, we will just round it up to 3 strips.

  • This means that we need 3 strips to bind our quilt.

See how easy it all is.  This formula works for any sized quilt.

Just supposing you don’t have fabric on hand to make your binding then the next thing you will want to know is how much fabric to buy.  And that is another simple calculation.

How to determine how much fabric to purchase

First, determine how wide your binding is going to be. Update: I make mine 2½” wide in this video but I now use 2¼”. Either works just fine. The smaller measurement just means the binding is has a firmer feel.

So you need to know the number of strips that you require. We worked that out in the last step. and we need to multiply that by the width of the strips.

  • I worked out that I needed 3 strips at 2.5″ wide so I multiply 3 x 2.5 and that gives me 7.5″

So I will need to buy ¼ of a yard to make my binding.

calculate-binding-1calculate-binding-2

image_pdfimage_print

Filed Under: Quilting Tutorials Tagged With: binding, how to calculate binding, quilt binding

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dee Whitney says

    August 6, 2019 at 12:38 pm

    Wonderful tutorial. No nonsense, I appreciate that!

    Reply
    • Alanda Craft says

      August 7, 2019 at 9:19 am

      Thank you Dee, happy to hear that you like the tutorial. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Deana says

    August 22, 2020 at 1:58 am

    I like to make bias binding. How do you calculate for that?

    Reply
    • Alanda Craft says

      August 22, 2020 at 10:05 am

      This calculator may help http://www.quiltersparadiseesc.com/Calculators/Binding%20Calculator.php

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FOLLOW US!

  • Amazon
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Welcome to Alanda Craft - We are Wanda & Paula, two friends who love to craft. Our goal is to show you techniques on how to improve your crafting skills. Learn how to use your ScanNCut, your Dream Machine, make quilts and create quick and easy sewing projects! Learn, Create, Enjoy!

Recent Posts

  • Make a Valentine’s Day Card Using the Aufero Laser 2
  • Readers Project: Darlene’s Magic Pillowcase
  • Christmas Table Runner using Half Square Triangles
  • How to Sew A Hexagon Pinwheel Block
  • 22 Gifts You Can Sew – Easy Beginner Projects

Popular Posts

10 Ways to Use Up Your Fabric Scraps – Easy Projects166K Total Shares
Quilting for Beginners – The Easiest Quilt Ever – Step-by-Step Tutorial101K Total Shares
Machine Binding a Quilt: A Step-by-Step Illustrated Guide for Beginners (with video)88K Total Shares
Origami Fabric Bag Tutorial: Easy to Make Market Tote Bag85K Total Shares
Crumb Quilt Technique Tutorial – Crumb Quilting50K Total Shares
Easy Quilted Christmas (or Fall) Table Runner47K Total Shares
Quilt As You Go Quilt With Sashing – Reversible Quilt44K Total Shares
Quilt Block: Jack in the Box Quilt Block Tutorial34K Total Shares
10 Fabric Jelly Roll Projects27K Total Shares
Magic Pillowcase Tutorial (AKA Burrito Pillow/ Roll-Up Pillow)27K Total Shares

Footer

  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
Copyright 2020 - Alanda Craft - AlandaCraft.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.