Quick answer: how much fabric do I need
Use the Fabric Calculator for top fabric, the Backing Calculator for backing, the Batting Calculator for batting, and the Binding Calculator for binding, and buy each fabric separately.
There is no single number for every quilt, because fabric needed depends on quilt top size, piece sizes and counts, fabric width, seam allowance, and whether the fabric is for the top, backing, batting, or binding. Work out each part separately, with its own calculator, and buy each fabric separately. Do not add yardages of different fabrics into one buy.
For example, a Lap quilt top 50 by 60 inches needs backing worked out on its own: top 50 by 60, overhang 4, fabric width 44, seam allowance 0.5, give backing size 58 by 68, 2 panels, total length 136 inches, exact yardage 3.78, yardage to buy 3.88. That 3.88 yards is backing only, not the whole quilt.
How to work out how much fabric you need
What you need to measure
You need finished quilt top size, piece sizes and counts for the top, fabric width for each fabric, seam allowance for each part, and which part each fabric is for: top, backing, batting, or binding. Finished quilt top size comes from bed fit or block layout. Piece sizes and counts come from your pattern or block plan, counted by fabric, not by block alone. Fabric width is the nominal width of the fabric you plan to buy, and usable width may be a little less, which is covered under variations below. Seam allowance is 0.25 inch on each side for piecing in most calculators on this site, 0.5 inch for backing panel joins in the Backing Calculator, and 1 inch for rag quilt blocks, so check the seam allowance on the calculator you are using, because it is not the same for every part.
The method, step by step
Step 1: work out finished quilt top size, from the Quilt Size Calculator for bed fit or the Block Size Calculator for block layout.
Step 2: work out top fabric, piece by piece, with the Fabric Calculator or the Pieces to Yardage Calculator, one fabric at a time. A block that uses the same fabric twice counts twice, and two piece sizes in one fabric need two separate calculations.
Step 3: work out backing with the Backing Calculator, batting with the Batting Calculator, and binding with the Binding Calculator.
Step 4: convert lengths to yardage to buy with the Yardage Calculator or the Inches to Yards Calculator, rounding up to the nearest 1/8 yard, and do not add extra twice. If extra was already added in another calculator, enter 0 in the Yardage Calculator.
Step by step example
Take a Lap quilt top 50 by 60 inches, and work out the backing part only, as a first step. This is backing only, not the whole quilt.
Backing size: top width 50 plus 2 times overhang 4 equals 58 inches. Top length 60 plus 2 times overhang 4 equals 68 inches. Backing size is 58 by 68 inches.
Panels: backing width 58 is wider than fabric width 44, so panels equal 1 plus ceil((58 minus 44) divided by (44 minus 0.5)), which is 1 plus ceil(14 divided by 43.5), which is 2 panels.
Total length: 2 panels times backing length 68 equals 136 inches. Exact yardage: 136 divided by 36 equals 3.78 yards. Yardage to buy: 3.78 rounded up to the nearest 1/8 yard equals 3.88 yards.
That 3.88 yards is backing only. Top fabric, batting and binding still need their own calculations, with their own calculators, before you know how much fabric the whole quilt needs.
Common quilt top sizes
These are top sizes only, not fabric yardages, because yardage depends on piece sizes, fabric width, and part. A top size tells you how big the finished top is, not how many yards to buy.
| Quilt | Top size |
|---|---|
| Baby | 36 by 48 inches |
| Lap | 50 by 60 inches |
| Twin | 68 by 88 inches |
| Full | 80 by 92 inches |
| Queen | 90 by 108 inches |
| King | 108 by 108 inches |
Use this table to pick a top size to start from. For yardage for that top, use the calculators above, with your own piece sizes, fabric width, and part, because the same top size needs different yardage for different patterns and different fabric widths.
Important variations and exceptions
- Wide backing changes backing panels and yardage. Wide backing fabric 108 or 120 inches wide often fits a quilt top in one panel, where 44 inch fabric needs two or three panels, so backing yardage drops. Use the Backing Calculator with the wide width selected, instead of guessing from the 44 inch result.
- Directional prints and usable width change piece counts. A directional print must be cut the same way up, so some layouts waste more fabric than the plain piece count suggests. Usable width may also be a little less than nominal width, because of selvedges, so pieces per strip can drop by one. Check usable width against nominal width before you buy, and count pieces from usable width when it matters.
- Pre-cuts change piece counts, not finished quilt size. Fat quarters, charm squares, layer cakes and jelly roll strips give a fixed number of pieces per precut, which you work out with the Fat Quarter and Precut Calculator and the Piece Count Calculator. A precut does not change the finished quilt size you are aiming for, it only changes how many pieces you can cut from what you own.
- Extra percent must not be added twice. If extra was already added in another calculator, enter 0 in the Yardage Calculator. Adding extra in two places counts the same extra twice, and buys more fabric than you need for the same quilt.
- Different fabrics must not be added into one buy. Backing, binding, top fabrics and batting are different fabrics, often different widths and different colours, so their yardages are separate buys. Adding them into one number only works when they are the same fabric, and even then you still buy each part's yardage separately, and the total is only a sum for that same fabric.
A combined total is a cost shortcut, never a shopping list
One page read for this guide shows a combined total, and it is the exception that proves the rule. Its shopping list keeps background, focal, supporting, accent, backing, and binding as separate lines, and then shows 7.00 yards total at 12 dollars per yard, about 84 dollars, for estimated cost only. That 7.00 is 3.25 yards of top fabric plus 3.25 yards of backing plus 0.50 yard of binding. It is not a quantity to buy, because the top alone in that example uses four different fabrics, and backing and binding are different fabrics unless you deliberately use the same fabric for them. Buying 7 yards of one fabric from that total would leave you without the separate fabrics the list requires. If a total is ever shown in this guide, label it as estimated cost only, at a stated price per yard, and keep the shopping list as separate lines by fabric.
The only legitimate addition is same fabric, same buy. If binding is cut from accent fabric or from leftover backing, that binding yardage is not an additional buy on top of the accent or backing yardage, because it is already covered by that fabric. Two related errors to avoid are adding different fabrics together, and counting a leftover use twice, once as part of the main fabric and again as a separate buy. Work each part separately first, then add only the lines that share one fabric, and subtract any part that will be cut from leftovers of another part.
Every extra, counted exactly once
The second half of the rule is where real pages create traps, because several allowances are already built into their outputs. Name where each allowance already sits, and make any further allowance an either or choice, not an extra layer. Backing panel joins already carry a seam allowance, 0.5 inch per piece joined in this site Backing Calculator. Binding already carries a tail and join length, 12 inches in the worked example in this guide, so do not also add a different 10 inch figure from another page to the same binding. Backing and batting overhang is an allowance in inches per side, not a percent, and it must be picked once: 0 only if you deliberately choose no overage, 2 inches per side as a domestic machine option, 4 inches per side as the longarm standard, or 6 to 8 inches per side for a large quilt on a longarm service, as a replacement for the 4 inch standard, not an addition to it. One other page always adds 4 inches per side before any additional overage field, so that additional field means extra beyond the built in 4 inches, not total overage wanted.
Cutting margin and shrinkage follow the same once only rule. One whole quilt calculator read for this guide already includes a 10 percent cutting margin inside its displayed yardages, so adding another 10 percent to such a result counts the margin twice. That 10 percent is a cutting margin, not a shrinkage allowance. Cotton fabric shrinkage of 3 to 5 percent is addressed by pre-washing, and batting shrinkage by fibre, about 4 percent for cotton, 0.5 percent for polyester, 2 percent for a cotton and polyester blend, 4 percent for wool, and 3 percent for bamboo, is addressed by pre-soaking or by enlarging the batting size. Pre-washing and adding a shrinkage percent are alternatives, not both. If the material has already been pre-washed or pre-soaked, do not add a shrinkage percent again.
Backing orientation, usable width, and batting units
Backing yardage changes with orientation alone, so never give one backing number with no layout. One page read for this guide gives both orientations for the same backing need, 52 inches by 96 inches on 43 inch fabric: 5 and 1/3 yards with the seam running in the direction of the 96 inch side, and 4 and 1/3 yards reversed, a full yard difference from orientation alone. Try both orientations yourself and state the one you cut, because the calculators on this site do not automatically pick the cheaper orientation for you. Panel direction wording also differs across pages, from full height panels joined side by side, to panels pieced in whichever direction uses the least fabric, so a diagram or a stated orientation matters more than a copied sentence.
Enter usable width, not just bolt width, in every example. Pages read use 42 inches standard, 43 inches, 44 inch bolt with 40 inches usable after selvage removal, and 108 inch wideback, and those are not interchangeable. A result worked out for 44 inch fabric does not apply to 108 inch wideback, and a wideback panel that fits a Queen backing at 3 and 1/4 yards can still need 2 panels for a King backing at 116 inches wide after overage, because wideback is seamless only up to about 100 inches wide.
Batting needs its own unit warning. Batting size is quilt size plus overhang per side in each direction, so a 60 by 72 inch quilt with 4 inches of overhang per side needs batting 68 by 80 inches, which is 5,440 square inches or about 4.2 square yards. Square yards are area, not linear yards of bolt fabric, so never add a batting square yard figure to a fabric yardage figure. Match a precut by dimensions, not by its name, and size up rather than stretching a package that is too small: a 60 by 60 inch Throw precut does not cover a 68 by 80 inch batting need, even though the names sound close. Scraps may be pieced by butting edges together without overlapping, joined with a wide zigzag stitch or fusible batting tape.
Top fabric, by role, not by one total
The backing, batting, and binding pages mostly leave the top to the reader, so the top method must come from block and piece math, not from those pages. Start from finished quilt size and finished block size, with cut size equal to finished size plus seam allowance, for example 12 inch finished blocks cut at 12.5 inches. Split the block area by role and list each role as its own fabric line, for example background 50 percent, focal or feature 25 percent, supporting 15 percent, and accent 10 percent, totalling 100 percent. Fat quarters, 18 by 22 inches, work for piecing roles of 2 yards or less, but not for long cuts such as borders, sashing, or backing. Rounding up once is normal, but rounding up at the strip count, then again at the yardage, then again to a shop increment, without saying so, quietly adds fabric, so state the rounding step you used.
How to make sure your result is correct
- Check each part separately. Top fabric, backing, batting and binding each have their own calculator, their own inputs and their own result. A single total with no part breakdown cannot be checked, so work out each part on its own page first.
- Check finished size against cut size. Finished size is the size after sewing. Cut size is larger, because seam allowance is lost where pieces join. Using finished size as cut size buys too little fabric, and using cut size as finished size buys too much.
- Check fabric width for each fabric. Backing width, top fabric width and binding fabric width may all be different. A result worked out for 44 inch fabric does not apply to 108 inch wide backing, so run each part with its own fabric width.
- Check rounding up to buy. Yardage to buy is exact yardage rounded up to the nearest 1/8 yard, not rounded to the nearest yard. Rounding down buys too little, and rounding to the nearest yard buys more than the calculator asks for, without a reason.
- Check extra only once. If you add extra percent in the Yardage Calculator, do not also add extra in the calculator that gave you the length. One extra, counted once, is enough, and counting it twice overstates the buy.
Try it with the calculators: Use the Fabric Calculator for top fabric, the Backing Calculator for backing, the Batting Calculator for batting, and the Binding Calculator for binding. Each one uses the same steps as this guide, and shows its own result, chart and worked example, together.
Worked example: binding for a finished quilt 58 by 68 inches
This worked example uses a finished quilt 58 by 68 inches, which is the backing size from the step by step example above, used here only as a finished size example, not as a claim that backing size equals finished quilt size. Finished quilt size for binding means finished size after borders, not backing size, so use your own finished quilt size in the calculator.
Perimeter: 2 times 58 plus 2 times 68 equals 116 plus 136, which is 252 inches.
Binding length needed: perimeter 252 plus extra 12 equals 264 inches.
Strips: 1 plus ceil((264 minus 44) divided by (44 minus 0.5)), which is 1 plus ceil(220 divided by 43.5), which is 1 plus ceil(5.06), which is 7 strips.
Fabric length: 7 strips times strip cut width 2.5 equals 17.5 inches. Exact yardage: 17.5 divided by 36 equals 0.49 yards. Yardage to buy: 0.49 rounded up to the nearest 1/8 yard equals 0.50 yards.
Backing 3.88 yards from the step by step example and binding 0.50 yards from this worked example are separate buys, for different fabrics, and must not be added into one 4.38 yard buy unless they are the same fabric, in which case you still buy each part's yardage separately and the total is only a sum for the same fabric.
Frequently asked questions
There is no single number for every quilt. Fabric needed depends on quilt top size, piece sizes and counts, fabric width, seam allowance, and whether the fabric is for the top, backing, batting, or binding. Work out each part separately, with its own calculator, and buy each fabric separately. For example, a Lap quilt top 50 by 60 inches needs backing 3.88 yards on its own, from backing size 58 by 68, 2 panels, total length 136 inches, exact yardage 3.78, rounded up to the nearest 1/8 yard.
No, not when they are different fabrics. Backing, binding and top fabrics are separate buys, often different widths and different colours, so their yardages are separate. Adding them into one number only works when they are the same fabric, and even then you still buy each part's yardage separately, and the total is only a sum for that same fabric.
Yes. Wide backing fabric 108 or 120 inches wide often fits a quilt top in one panel, where 44 inch fabric needs two or three panels, so backing yardage drops. Use the Backing Calculator with the wide width selected, instead of guessing from the 44 inch result.
Extra is your own choice, and it must be counted only once. If extra was already added in another calculator, enter 0 in the Yardage Calculator. Adding extra in two places counts the same extra twice, and buys more fabric than you need for the same quilt.
No. Quilt top sizes, for example Baby 36 by 48, Lap 50 by 60, Twin 68 by 88, Full 80 by 92, Queen 90 by 108 and King 108 by 108, are top sizes only, not fabric yardages. Yardage depends on piece sizes, fabric width, and part, so use the calculators above with your own piece sizes, fabric width, and part, for yardage for that top.
Related guides and calculators
Use the Fabric Calculator for top fabric, the Yardage Calculator for length to yardage, the Backing Calculator for backing yardage, the Batting Calculator for batting size and yardage, and the Binding Calculator for binding strips and yardage. For quilt size by bed, use the Quilt Size Calculator, and for block layout, use the Block Size Calculator.