Helpful tool - Backing and Binding Calculator

Good morning! Or evening. Or day or night! Whatever time it is, I’m happy you decided to stop by. Especially because I’m about to make your life easier!

Unless you’ve purchased a pre-cut kit, or are some kind of magician, you may have found yourself scratching your head about how much fabric to buy for backing or binding.

I’ve been there!

Even after quilting for years, I struggle with this! I usually turn to Nancy the Quilting Goddess and say, “HELP!”.

Or, when left to my own devices, I overbuy. By a lot. The general sequence of events is:

1.       Pick amazing backing fabric
2.       Walk up to cutting counter
3.       Get asked how much I want
4.       Panic
5.       Buy 10 yards, because that should definitely be enough
6.       Need 2 yards
7.       Have 8 leftover yards and an unmanageable hoarding fabric stash
8.       Feel foolish
9.       Vow to bring Nancy the Quilting Goddess with me next time

FABRIC HOARDERS - You know what I'm talking about!

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

But, my friends – NO LONGER!

Because I’ve found the best thing ever – an online calculator which will tell me (or you!) how much fabric to buy. Hallelujah!

If you click here, you will be taken to the homepage for MyWebQuilter. It has all kinds of amazing resources for basic quilting skills, but my favorite finds are the backing and binding calculators.

All you do is enter your specific quilt dimensions along with the width of the backing fabric you’ve selected and then click “calculate”. They even have presets for crib through king sizes that you can just click and get the info you need, if you've made a standard size quilt.

But wait! There’s more! If you’re going to need to piece the back, they tell you how!

Essentially, it is your own personal, online Nancy.

Are there any other quilting steps you struggle with? Tell me in the comments!

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