CraftM8 › QuiltM8 › Calculators › Cutting pieces
How many strips, and how much fabric?
For N pieces at a cut size: how many fit across a strip, how many strips, and the fabric to buy — with the waste per strip and the surplus pieces shown rather than hidden.
Fabric used: 17 1/2" · Spare pieces: 12 pieces · Left over per strip: 0" · The other way: 1/2 yd
Show the maths
| 1 | Pieces per strip — 40" ÷ 2 1/2" → round down | 16 |
| 2 | Cutting direction — standard: 2 1/2" across the strip | standard (other way: 1/2 yd) |
| 3 | Strips — 100 ÷ 16 → round up | 7 |
| 4 | Fabric used — 7 × 2 1/2" | 17 1/2" |
| 5 | Fabric to buy — 17 1/2" → round up to the next 1/8 yd | 1/2 yd |
Sizes are cut sizes, seam allowances included. The spare pieces come from the last strip, which is rarely used up.
Where the formula comes from
Pieces per strip is a floor division against the usable width; strips round up; the yardage rounds up to the buying increment once, at the end. Rotating the piece is considered when it fits more per strip.
- Cross-grain strip cutting. Pieces are cut from strips running the width of fabric: whole pieces per strip is usable width divided by piece width, rounded down; strips are the piece count divided by that, rounded up.
- Rotating rectangles. Both orientations are costed and the cheaper is kept, which is what quilters do at the cutting mat. It is worth real money: 40 pieces of 2" × 11" need 22" of fabric one way and 28" the other. Ties go to the conventional grain direction.
This is the app's own arithmetic running in your browser, put through the same worked examples every time this site is built.
A worked example
The worked example feeds the how-to quilt’s triangles: sixty 6 7/8″ squares — 5 per strip, 12 strips, 2 3/8 yd.
| 1 | Pieces per strip — 40" ÷ 6 7/8" → round down | 5 |
| 2 | Cutting direction — standard: 6 7/8" across the strip | standard (other way: 2 3/8 yd) |
| 3 | Strips — 60 ÷ 5 → round up | 12 |
| 4 | Fabric used — 12 × 6 7/8" | 82 1/2" |
| 5 | Fabric to buy — 82 1/2" → round up to the next 1/8 yd | 2 3/8 yd |
Works with
- What do I cut for half-square triangles? — Where the 6 7/8″ squares came from.
- What does a fat quarter really give me? — Cutting from precuts instead of yardage.
In the app, this answer joins a quilt
Save it to a project, add the other tools' answers, and the shopping list totals every fabric with one rounding — then prints a cut sheet for the table. Offline, no account, one payment, yours forever.
In development A closed test on Google Play is the next step.