Quilting Cost Calculator

What a finished quilt costs

The fabric receipt is the part of a quilt's cost that people see. It is usually less than half of the total. A finished quilt carries four buckets: fabric for the top, backing, and binding; batting, thread, and notions; the machine quilting itself, whether that is a longarm service or your own hours at the frame; and the hours spent cutting, piecing, pressing, basting, and binding.

Gift quilts hide the labor because nobody writes an invoice. The hours are still spent, and a maker who wants to sell has to know what those hours are worth before setting a price. A throw quilt that takes 14 hours and $294 of materials and quilting has a different price floor than the one implied by the fabric receipt alone.

The calculator on this page totals the four buckets, reports cost per square inch, and applies the markup you choose. It works the same for a baby quilt, a king size bed quilt, and the wall hanging that has been on the frame since spring.

The cost formula this calculator uses

Total cost is the sum of materials, machine quilting, and labor. Every other line is a detail inside one of those three:

Total cost = top fabric + backing + binding + batting + thread, pattern, and notions + longarm charge + labor hours x hourly rate

Fabric is priced by the yard, and the yards you buy are not the yards you sew. Quilting cotton shrinks 3 to 5 percent on the first wash, and cutting mistakes happen, so most makers buy 10 percent extra. The calculator takes yardage as you enter it, so add that cushion before you type the number.

The longarm charge is priced by area, not by the quilt. A 60 x 80 inch throw measures 4,800 square inches, and at 2.5 cents per square inch the quilting is 4,800 x $0.025 = $120. Area pricing is why a king quilt costs more to finish than a throw even when the pattern is the same.

Labor is hours multiplied by your rate. Fourteen hours at $18 is $252, which is more than every material line combined on a typical throw. The section on your time covers how to pick that rate without either underselling the work or pricing it out of the market.

Fabric yardage and fabric prices

Yardage depends on the quilt size, the block design, and the width of the fabric. Quilting cotton is normally 42 to 44 inches wide, and wideback fabric for backing runs 104 to 108 inches. A pattern with lots of half square triangles wastes more fabric than a simple panel, and directional prints waste more than small allover prints because every piece has to face the same way.

These are working estimates for a pieced top with a simple block, not a promise. Add a half yard to the top for a busy design, and check the pattern's own yardage chart before you buy. The Robert Kaufman quilt calculator is a free yardage estimator that handles block counts and border math.

Price per yard is the other half of the fabric line. Quilt shop cotton in 2026 runs about $12 to $16 per yard, big box stores run $6 to $10, and wideback runs $15 to $18 per yard but covers twice the width. A $13.50 fabric on the throw's 5.5 yard top costs $74.25. The same top in a $7 fabric costs $38.50, which is a $35.75 swing on one line.

Batting, thread, and notions

Batting is sold by the package or by the roll. A crib package runs $15 to $20, a throw package $25 to $30, a queen package $35 to $45, and a king package $45 to $55. By the roll, the same batting can cost half as much per quilt, which matters for anyone finishing more than a few pieces a year.

Thread is a small line with a large failure mode. Piecing and quilting a throw uses roughly 1,200 to 1,800 yards, or about $4 to $8 of thread at current prices. Cheap thread breaks, sheds lint into the machine, and shows every imperfect stitch, so the savings are not savings.

Notions are the line everyone forgets: machine needles, bobbin thread, marking pens, painter's tape, spray baste, and the rotary blade that went dull halfway through the cutting. A flat $5 allowance covers a normal project, and it rises for applique, embroidery, or any technique that eats specialty supplies.

Patterns and design fees run $0 for a free tutorial to $20 for a printed pattern. If you drafted the design yourself, that work is labor, not a materials line, and it belongs in your hours.

Longarm quilting charges

Longarm pricing is quoted two ways: by the square inch or as a flat rate per quilt. The square inch method is standard for edge to edge work and makes the cost easy to predict. Rates in 2026 run about 2 to 3 cents per square inch for an edge to edge pantograph, 4 to 6 cents for custom quilting with separate designs in different areas, and 6 to 10 cents or more for heirloom work with dense free motion stitching.

Most longarm quilters also charge a minimum of $40 to $75, and many charge extra for batting, thread, trimming, and binding. Ask for the full price list before dropping off a top, because a $45 minimum on a small wall hanging changes the effective rate by a wide margin. The American Quilter's Society publishes show and judging standards that explain why density and design complexity drive the price.

If you quilt on your own domestic machine, the longarm line goes to zero and your hours go up by the time spent at the machine. That trade is real, and the calculator handles it: set the longarm rate to zero and raise the labor hours.

Your time: hours and hourly rate

Hours are the largest line on most quilts and the one makers estimate worst. Cutting and piecing a throw takes 8 to 10 hours for a simple block, pressing and basting add 2, quilting on a domestic machine adds 6 to 10, and binding adds 2 more. A realistic total for a throw is 14 hours; a queen runs 20 to 24; a king runs 24 to 30.

The hourly rate is a choice, not a fact. At $18 an hour, 14 hours is $252. At $30 an hour it is $420. Both can be right for different makers: a hobbyist who quilts for the enjoyment may charge $15 to $20, while a maker with a longarm, a business license, and a waiting list should be at $30 or more before overhead.

Do not price labor at zero to make the quilt "affordable." That habit makes every quilt a donation and trains buyers to expect handmade prices that cover materials only. If the goal is a gift, cost the hours anyway so you know what you gave, and if the goal is a sale, the hours are the product.

Speed improves with repetition, and a maker on the fifth version of the same pattern is faster than on the first. Cost the first one at the hours it takes, then adjust as the process settles.

Step-by-step worked example: a throw quilt

A maker finishes a 60 x 80 inch throw. The top takes 5.5 yards of $13.50 fabric, binding takes 0.75 yard of the same fabric, backing takes 2.5 yards of $16.00 wideback, batting is a $28 throw package, thread is $4.50, the pattern cost $12, notions are $5, labor is 14 hours at $18, and edge to edge longarm quilting is 2.5 cents per square inch.

1. Top fabric: 5.5 x $13.50 = $74.25.
2. Binding: 0.75 x $13.50 = $10.13.
3. Backing: 2.5 x $16.00 = $40.00.
4. Batting, thread, pattern, and notions: $28.00 + $4.50 + $12.00 + $5.00 = $49.50.
5. Longarm quilting: 4,800 x $0.025 = $120.00.
6. Labor: 14 x $18 = $252.00.
7. Total cost: $74.25 + $10.13 + $40.00 + $49.50 + $120.00 + $252.00 = $545.88.
8. Cost per square inch: $545.88 / 4,800 = $0.114.
9. Price at a 25 percent markup: $545.88 x 1.25 = $682.34, which leaves $136.47.

Labor is 46 percent of the cost and the longarm is another 22 percent, so materials alone would tell you the quilt costs $174. That is the number most makers quote when someone asks, and it is less than a third of the real figure.

Pricing, gifting, and when the numbers change

Cost plus markup gives a floor, not a market price. Handmade quilts sell at craft fairs for $300 to $900, and at juried shows for more, while mass market quilts sell for $80 to $200. A complex queen with custom quilting can carry a $1,200 price and still sell slowly, because the buyer who values 22 hours of work is rare. Setting the price from cost keeps you solvent; setting it from the market keeps you competitive; the workable answer is usually cost plus a modest markup, with a discount for a repeat customer rather than a discount on the first one.

Gift quilts do not need a price, but they do deserve a record. Writing the cost and the hours on a slip inside the quilt folder is useful when someone asks for a commissioned version, and it is a fair way to value the work if it is ever insured or donated.

Recompute when any input moves. Fabric prices moved a lot between 2021 and 2024, batting follows cotton and polyester, and longarm rates rise with the cost of the machine and the quilter's time. A price list from three years ago is a discount you did not choose to give. Update the rate once a year, and quote commissions with a deposit that covers materials so a cancelled order does not leave you holding $175 of cut fabric.