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Quilt Border Calculator — Border Strips & Fabric Yardage

~1 minute

Enter your finished quilt size, finished border width, and the number of borders. The calculator uses the straight (butted) border method and returns the cut strip lengths and widths for each border, the number of WOF strips to cut, and the fabric yardage to buy.

What this calculator determines

It calculates the fabric yardage for straight (butted) quilt borders from quilt size, border width, number of borders, and fabric width.

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Quilt Binding Calculator

Binding strip count and yardage from quilt perimeter, cut width, and WOF

Quilt Size Calculator

Finished quilt dimensions from block size, layout, sashing, and borders

Quilt Block Layout Calculator

How many blocks fit and how to arrange them, with sashing and borders

Sashing Calculator

Sashing fabric yardage from block layout, sashing width, and fabric width

Fabric Yardage Calculator

Yardage needed to cut a quantity of same-size pieces from fabric of any width

Examples

Straight border, 1 border

48″ × 60″ quilt, 2″ border, 1 border, 0.25″ seam, 42″ fabric

Calculation

  1. Top/bottom cut: 48 + 0.5 = 48.5″
  2. Sides cut: 60 + 2×(2+0.25) = 64.5″
  3. Cut width: 2 + 0.5 = 2.5″
  4. Total length: 2×48.5 + 2×64.5 = 226″
  5. WOF strips: ceil(226 ÷ 41.5) = 6
  6. Fabric: 6 × 2.5 = 15″ → 0.417 yd → buy 0.5 yd

6 strips — buy 0.5 yards

Two sequential 2″ borders

48″ × 60″ quilt, 2″ border, 2 borders, 0.25″ seam, 42″ fabric

Calculation

  1. Border 1: top/bottom 48.5″, sides 64.5″ → 226″ → ceil(226 ÷ 41.5) = 6 strips
  2. Quilt grows to 52″ × 64″
  3. Border 2: top/bottom 52.5″, sides 68.5″ → 242″ → ceil(242 ÷ 41.5) = 6 strips
  4. Total strips: 12 → 12 × 2.5 = 30″ ÷ 36 = 0.833 yd → buy 0.875 yd

12 strips — buy 0.875 yards

Assumptions & Conventions

Straight borders only
Only straight (butted) borders are calculated; mitered 45° corners are not included.
Usable fabric width
The default usable fabric width is 42″ and can be changed to match your fabric.
Sequential borders
Each border is added in turn, so a second border is cut to the larger quilt size after the first is attached.
Purchase rounding
Purchase yardage is rounded up to the next 1/8 yard.

Frequently asked questions