Binding Formula

Since I've been working on this placemat and napkin project, I've been stressing a lot over bindings.  Specifically, if I have enough fabric to bind everything.   Then I got the brainstorm to come up with an equation that would let me plug in the length and width of my fabric and know if it was long enough.

I am undoubtedly not the first woman on the internet to think this out, and I'm sure a few minutes spent on Google would have answered my question.  But I wanted the brain exercise, so I spent some time with an old-fashioned pencil and calculator to figure out what my 15 year-old self probably could have gotten done in half the time.

Anyway, here it is:

Obviously this is for a standard 2.5" binding, but you can see where to make the substitution for anything else.

For the Binding Required equation I added .25 inch for the fold at the beginning, and 1 inch for the overlap at the end.

Let me know if you try it!