Fabric Yardage Calculator

No pattern envelope? Measure your pieces and enter them with your fabric width. You get how many fit side by side, the length the layout needs, and the yardage: with a nap allowance when your fabric has a direction. A tablecloth, a skirt, or a jacket: any cloth you can measure as rectangles gets its yardage the same way.

Your Pieces and Fabric

Measure each pattern piece at its widest and longest, seam allowances included. Up to four piece types; count doubles cover “cut 2.”

You Need

1 ½yards

of 58–60 in fabric

  • Piece 12 across · 1 row · 30 in
  • Piece 23 across · 1 row · 22 in
  • Layout length52 in
  • Thread, roughly16 yd

The Formula

per width = ⌊fabric width ÷ piece width⌋  ·  rows = ⌈count ÷ per width⌉  ·  length += rows × piece length

Each piece type lays out in rows across the fabric; the layout lengths add up, and the total converts to yards rounded up to the next ⅛. A nap or one-way print adds 10%: pieces can’t flip head-to-toe to tuck into gaps.

Worked Example

A simple top on 58 in fabric: front and back panels 24 × 30 in (cut 2) and sleeves 18 × 22 in (cut 2):

  • Panels: two fit across 58 in → one row of 30 in.
  • Sleeves: three would fit, you need two → one row of 22 in.
  • Total 52 in → 1½ yd. With a napped velvet, 10% more → 1⅝ yd.

Pieces per Yard, Common Cuts

How many rectangles of each size cut from one yard, by fabric width, the quick check before the full layout.

Piece44/45 in fabric58/60 in fabric
10 × 12 in1215
12 × 15 in68
15 × 20 in23
18 × 22 in23
22 × 28 in22
24 × 30 in12

How to Measure Your Inputs

  • Measure the paper pieces, seam allowances on, at the widest and longest points: a curved piece occupies its bounding rectangle on the fabric.
  • “Cut 2” and “cut on fold”: enter cut-2 pieces with count 2; a fold piece is one piece at double its folded width.
  • Stripes and plaids to match: add one pattern repeat per matched seam on top of the result.

Assumptions and Defaults

  • Rectangular packing by piece type: honest for garment-scale pieces, a touch generous for nesting curved pieces, which is the direction you want to miss in.
  • Nap adds 10%; matching large prints is extra, one repeat per matched seam.
  • Thread estimate: about 3 in of thread per inch of seam, needle and bobbin together, the small-spool rule beneath the result.
  • Prewashing? Add 5% for cotton and rayon shrinkage.

Yardage Questions, Answered

How do I calculate yardage without the pattern envelope?
To calculate yardage without the pattern envelope, measure each piece’s bounding rectangle, fit the widths across your fabric, and add up the lengths of the rows, which is the arithmetic above. A cutting diagram is faster for a pattern with twenty pieces, but for a handful of pieces this page gives you the answer at the cutting table.
How much extra fabric do I need for napped or directional fabric?
Napped or directional fabric needs about 10% extra for most layouts, because the pieces can no longer be turned or flipped to fit. Velvet, corduroy, and one-way prints all count, and large prints you plan to match need more still, a full pattern repeat per matched seam.
How do 45 and 60 inch fabrics compare for yardage?
Sixty-inch fabric takes roughly three-quarters of the yardage that 45 in fabric needs for the same garment, because more pieces fit side by side across the width. To convert a pattern’s 45 in requirement, multiply by 0.75 as a first estimate, then confirm it with a proper layout.
How much thread does a garment take?
A garment takes about three times its total seam length in thread, which covers the needle thread, the bobbin, and finishing. A top with 4 yards of seams uses about 12 yards of thread, so one small spool sews several garments, although a four-thread serger uses about four times as much.