Size your wrapping paper
1. Units
2. Start from a standard canvas (optional)
Your wrapping plan
- Gift size
- 16 × 20 in, 1.5 in deep
- Sheet to cut
- 27 × 37 in
- How it wraps
- Around the shorter side, with 3.5 in flaps folding over each end onto the back
- Per 180 in roll
- 4 gifts per roll
- Ribbon, both ways around
- 96 in including the bow
Fits your roll. Cut 37 in off a 30 in-wide roll.
Includes a 2 in taped seam where the paper overlaps itself and a 2 in tail on each end flap. This is the book-style wrap for flat gifts — a deep box needs a box wrap with more end paper.
Standard gallery canvases and the sheets they take
| Gallery canvas | Sheet to cut | Off a 30 in roll | 15 ft roll yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8×10 in (20×25 cm) | 17 × 21 in | cut 17 in | 10 per roll |
| 11×14 in (28×36 cm) | 21 × 27 in | cut 21 in | 8 per roll |
| 12×16 in (30×41 cm) | 23 × 29 in | cut 23 in | 7 per roll |
| 16×20 in (41×51 cm) | 27 × 37 in | cut 37 in | 4 per roll |
| 18×24 in (46×61 cm) | 25 × 53 in | roll the other way — cut 53 in | 3 per roll |
| 20×30 in (51×76 cm) | 27 × 65 in | roll the other way — cut 65 in | 2 per roll |
| 24×36 in (61×91 cm) | 43 × 53 in | needs a seam or diagonal | — |
Only the sizes you type are used, and only in this browser. No photo, filename or account is requested; entered sizes are not saved or sent in analytics.
Need the gift first? Browse canvas portraits worth wrapping →The eyeballing tax, and the arithmetic that ends it
Everyone wraps a flat gift the same way: unroll “about enough” paper, fold it round, and discover the flaps miss the back by an inch — or that half the sheet is surplus. The actual requirement is plain arithmetic. The paper has to travel once around the gift across one side plus its depth (that loop is the girth, plus a taped seam), and the sheet has to run past each open end far enough to cover the depth and fold onto the back (the flaps). This calculator does exactly that sum in both roll directions, keeps the smaller sheet, and hands you two numbers to mark on the paper before you cut.
The depth is the part eyeballing always misses, and it is why canvas prints surprise people: a 16×20 gallery canvas is only sixteen inches wide, but its stretcher bars add 1.5 inches of depth on every pass, so the honest sheet is 27 × 37 inches — noticeably more than the face suggests. The calculator has one-tap presets for standard canvas depths (slim 0.75 in and gallery 1.5 in wraps) alongside free inputs for any framed print, board book or shallow box.
Off the roll, onto the gift
A sheet size is only half the answer, because paper comes on rolls — usually 30 inches (76 cm) wide. So the tool also checks whether your sheet comes off your roll in one piece, tells you the exact length to cut when it does, and when it doesn’t, says so honestly: roll the paper the other way, join two panels with a seam on the back, or lay the gift corner-to-corner and use the diagonal wrap. Wrapping several — a batch of client gifts, one canvas per grandparent — and it totals the paper and counts rolls, plus a both-ways-around ribbon length with the bow included.
The cutting is this page; the folding is its companion guide, how to wrap a canvas like a pro, which walks the crisp-corner technique the sheet is sized for. And if the gift itself is still undecided, the gift amount calculator and anniversary gift by year settle the budget and the occasion — a painted portrait arrives as exactly the kind of flat, wrappable canvas this tool measures for.
How it works
- Pick inches or centimetres, then tap a standard canvas preset or type your gift’s width, height and depth. No photo, filename or account is requested.
- Optionally set your roll’s width and length, and how many identical gifts you’re wrapping.
- Read the sheet to cut, the roll verdict and the ribbon length — then copy the plan to take to the wrapping table.
Frequently asked questions
What size wrapping paper do I need for a canvas print?
Enough to go once around the canvas across one side plus its depth (with a couple of inches of taped seam), and enough across to cover the other side plus a flap over each end that folds onto the back. For a standard 16×20 gallery canvas with 1.5-inch bars, that works out to a sheet about 27 × 37 inches — the calculator gives the exact figure for any size and depth.
How do I wrap a canvas without a box?
Use the book wrap this calculator sizes for: lay the canvas face-down on the sheet, roll the paper around it, tape the seam on the back, then fold each end down over the depth like an envelope and tape the flaps flat. The sheet the tool gives you includes the seam and flap allowances, and our companion guide on wrapping a canvas like a pro walks the crisp-corner folds step by step.
What if the sheet is wider than my roll of paper?
Three honest options, and the tool tells you which applies: wrap around the other side of the gift (sometimes that sheet fits the roll when the first doesn’t), join two panels with a taped seam hidden on the back, or use the diagonal method — place the gift corner-to-corner on the biggest square your roll gives you, which covers more than a straight wrap from the same paper.
How much ribbon does a wrapped gift need?
For the classic cross with a bow: twice around the width (including depth) plus twice around the height (including depth), plus about 18 inches (45 cm) for the bow and trails. The calculator includes this figure for your exact gift, so you can cut the ribbon once instead of guessing twice.
Does this calculator store my measurements or upload anything?
No. The sizes you type are used only to do the arithmetic in your browser — nothing is saved, sent or uploaded, there is no photo upload on this page, and your measurements never appear in analytics. It is a cutting guide, not a data collector.
Wrapping a portrait? Browse canvas gifts that arrive ready to give →