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Fabric Yardage Calculator

Use this free fabric yardage calculator to find out exactly how much fabric to buy for any sewing project. Enter the finished length and width of your project, pick the fabric width, and add the pattern repeat and seam allowance. The calculator works out the cut length, how many panels you need, and the total yardage in yards and meters.

How it works

Fabric is sold by the yard off a bolt of a fixed width, so yardage depends on two things: how long each piece must be, and how many pieces you need side by side. The calculator works out both. First it finds the cut length: the finished project length plus twice the seam allowance (one for each end), plus the hem allowance if you checked it, plus one pattern repeat if the fabric has a repeat and the pattern must line up. Then it finds the number of panels: the finished project width plus twice the seam allowance, divided by the fabric width, rounded up. Multiply panels by cut length and divide by 36 inches per yard, and you have the yardage.

Take the default example: a 60 by 72 inch throw, 44-inch wide fabric, no pattern repeat, and a half-inch seam allowance. The cut length is 60 + 1 = 61 inches, one half inch at each end. The panels are the width plus a half inch on each side — 73 inches — divided by 44, which rounds up to 2 panels. Two panels of 61 inches is 122 inches, or 3.39 yards, which is 3.10 meters. If your project has a turned hem, check the hem box and the calculator adds 2 inches to the cut length; the yardage rises accordingly.

The pattern repeat is where most yardage mistakes happen. A repeat is the vertical distance before a printed design starts over — 12 inches for a medium print, 24 inches or more for a large one. When two panels sit side by side, the design has to line up across the seam, so each panel after the first may need up to one full repeat of extra length to shift it into alignment. The calculator adds one repeat to the cut length, which is the safe planning figure. A one-way print or a fabric with nap, such as velvet, adds the same problem in the other direction — every panel must run the same way up — so the nap checkbox adds a repeat per panel as well.

Fabric width changes the answer more than anything else. A 72-inch wide project needs two panels of 44-inch fabric, but only one panel of 108-inch wide backing fabric, and a 60-inch wide apparel fabric would need two panels as well, because 73 inches is still wider than 60. Check the actual width printed on the end of the bolt rather than trusting the category. The usable width is also a little less than the bolt width, because the selvage edges are trimmed off, so this calculator already treats the stated width conservatively.

Seam allowances vary by craft. Quilting uses a quarter inch, standard sewing uses a half inch, garment sewing uses five-eighths of an inch, and upholstery and heavy hems often use a full inch. The extra allowance setting is your insurance — 10 percent covers miscuts and shrinkage for most projects, 15 percent is wise for a first attempt at a new pattern, and 25 percent is the right choice for a directional print where matching eats fabric.

One last practical point: pre-washing changes the math. Cotton can shrink 3 to 5 percent in the wash, which means a 3.39-yard cut becomes about 3.25 yards after washing. If you plan to pre-wash, buy first, wash, then cut, so the finished item will not shrink out of shape later.

Worked example

You are making a throw that finishes at 60 by 72 inches, from 44-inch wide solid fabric, with a half-inch seam allowance, no pattern repeat, and a 10 percent extra allowance.

Step 1: Cut length — 60 + 2 × 0.5 = 61 inches.
Step 2: Panels — (72 + 2 × 0.5) ÷ 44 = 73 ÷ 44 = 1.66, rounded up to 2 panels.
Step 3: Total length — 2 × 61 = 122 inches.
Step 4: Yards — 122 ÷ 36 = 3.39 yards, or 3.10 meters.
Step 5: With 10 percent extra — 3.39 × 1.10 = 3.73 yards.

Buy 3.39 yards as the bare minimum, or 3.73 yards with the recommended extra allowance — in practice, round up to 3¾ yards at the shop. If the same throw were made from a fabric with a 12-inch pattern repeat, the cut length would become 73 inches and the yardage would rise to 4.06 yards, which shows why the repeat matters so much.

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