𧡠Fabric Yardage Calculator
Yardage for curtains, tablecloths, and projects from real measurements.
Fabric to buy
How to Use the Fabric Yardage Calculator
Pick your project type, enter measurements in inches, and select your fabric width. Curtain mode computes panels from fullness and adds hems. Tablecloth mode adds the drop on all sides. Flat mode converts any rectangular area into yardage at your fabric width. Every result includes a 10% waste buffer recommendation in the notes.
Choose curtains, tablecloth, or flat yardage, and set the usable fabric width.
Enter your measurements in inches. Measure twice; fabric stores cut once.
Hit Calculate Yardage. Buy the rounded-up figure, plus extra for pattern matching.
How Yardage Math Works
Yardage is area divided by fabric width, with panels rounded up because you cannot buy half a width. Hems, fullness, and waste are added before the division, never after, since each panel needs its own allowances.
Worked example, verified: 60-inch window, 2x fullness, 54-inch fabric, 84-inch finished length, 8-inch hem allowance. Fabric width needed: 60 Γ 2 = 120 inches. Panels: 120 Γ· 54 = 2.22, rounded up to 3 panels. Cut length each: 84 + 8 = 92 inches = 2.556 yards. Total: 3 Γ 2.556 = 7.667 yards, buy 7.75. Two panels would give only 108 inches of fabric, visibly skimpy at 1.8x fullness, so the round-up is not waste, it is the design.
Fabric Widths and What They Mean
Quilting cotton runs 44 to 45 inches on the bolt with about 43 usable after the selvages come off. Home-decor fabric is 54 inches, the standard for curtains and upholstery. Apparel fabric is 58 to 60 inches. The width you compute with is the usable width, and mixing up bolt width with usable width is a classic half-yard error. Wider fabric is not just more per yard; it changes the panel count, which is why the calculator asks for width before doing anything else. When a pattern calls for 45-inch fabric and you buy 54-inch, recompute rather than assuming the yardage transfers.
Pattern Repeats, Nap, and Shrinkage
Three things eat the yardage the basic math produces. Pattern repeats: add one full repeat per panel or length for prints that must align; a 12-inch repeat across 3 panels adds a yard. Nap and directional prints: all pieces cut the same direction, which wastes the nesting you would otherwise do, adding 10 to 15%. Shrinkage: cotton shrinks 3 to 5% in the first wash, so either prewash before cutting or buy 5 to 10% extra. Stack all three on a large velvet curtain and the real purchase can run 25% over the naive number. Buy the extra. Returning to match a dye lot later is a worse outcome than owning a leftover half yard.
Tips for Buying Fabric
Bring your measurements and this calculator's result to the store on paper; phone screens die in fabric aisles. Buy all of one project from the same bolt so the dye lot matches, and buy a little extra for mistakes rather than exactly the number. Ask for the fabric to be torn rather than cut when the grain is straight; a torn edge follows the grain and gives you a true rectangle. Check the return policy before leaving, since cut fabric is usually final sale. And wash a swatch first if shrinkage is a question; a 4-inch test square in the laundry answers it for the price of a stamp.
Worked Example: The 72-Inch Sliding Door
A 72-inch sliding glass door, 2.5x fullness for a tailored drape, 54-inch home-decor fabric, 96-inch finished length, 10 inches of hem and header allowance. Fabric width needed: 72 x 2.5 = 180 inches. Panels: 180 / 54 = 3.33, rounded up to 4 panels. Cut length each: 96 + 10 = 106 inches = 2.94 yards. Total: 4 x 2.94 = 11.78 yards, so buy 12.
Tempted to use 3 panels? That gives 162 inches of fabric, 2.25x fullness, which hangs acceptably on lightweight linen but looks flat on anything heavier. The round-up to 4 is not waste, it is the difference between curtains that drape and curtains that hang like a bedsheet. And for a slider that opens daily, add a few extra inches of return to the wall so the panels stack without blocking the glass.
Nap, One-Way Prints, and Other Yardage Killers
Three fabric traits silently inflate yardage past the calculator's answer. Nap, the directional fuzz on velvet, corduroy, and suede, forces every panel to be cut in the same direction, or the panels reflect light differently and the curtain looks sewn from two fabrics. One-way prints do the same: a panel cut upside down is a ruined panel. With either, lay out all panels before cutting a single one, and expect to lose up to an extra panel's worth of fabric to direction.
Pattern repeats are the third killer. A 24-inch repeat means each panel beyond the first needs an extra full repeat to match the pattern across seams: on a 4-panel curtain that is roughly 2 extra yards the calculator never sees. Stripes and plaids demand the same matching. And prewash washable fabric before cutting, or add 3 to 5 percent for shrinkage; cotton can shrink a full inch per yard on the first wash, which is a hem that disappears. The calculator gives you the geometry. The fabric gives you the fine print.
The Shrinkage Audit: Pre-Wash Before You Cut
Fabric shrinks, and it shrinks on its own schedule, not yours. Cotton commonly loses 3 to 5% in the first wash, linen can lose more, and a 3-yard cut of quilting cotton can come out of the dryer two to four inches narrower and shorter. Cut first and wash later, and your carefully calculated yardage no longer matches the pattern. The fix is boring and non-negotiable: pre-wash and dry every washable fabric exactly the way you will treat the finished piece, then press it before measuring.
Test the worst offenders before committing. Cut a 10-inch square, wash and dry it, measure again: a 9.5-inch result is 5% shrinkage, and now you know to buy 5% extra of that fabric forever. Rayon and linen deserve this test every time; polyester and nylon barely move. One more trap: "dry clean only" fabrics cannot be pre-washed at home, so buy an extra quarter yard instead and press with steam to relax the fibers. Shrinkage is a fact of fibers. Surprises are a failure of process.
Selvage to Selvage: Usable Width
The width on the bolt is a lie, or close to it. Fabric is sold by selvage-to-selvage width, but the selvages themselves, the tightly woven inch on each edge, are unusable for most projects: they pucker, they shrink differently, and they show. Usable width is typically 1 to 2 inches less than the marked width, so 44-inch quilting cotton gives you about 42.5 usable inches and 60-inch apparel fabric gives about 58.
This matters most on tight layouts where the pattern barely fits. Always do your layout math on usable width, not bolt width, or the last piece will hang off the edge by the exact width of the selvage you forgot. Measure twice, cut once, and subtract the selvages before you believe the number.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much fabric do I need for curtains?
Multiply the window width by fullness (1.5 to 2.5x), divide by fabric width for the panel count, and multiply panels by the finished length plus hems. A 60-inch window at 2x fullness in 54-inch fabric, 84 inches long: 3 panels Γ 2.56 yards β 7.75 yards. The calculator above runs the full version.
What is fullness in curtain making?
How much wider the fabric is than the window, which creates the gathers. 1.5x looks tailored, 2x is the classic full look, 2.5x is luxurious. Sheers often use 2.5 to 3x because the fabric is thin. More fullness means more fabric and more cost.
How wide is quilting cotton?
About 44 to 45 inches, measured selvage to selvage, with roughly 42 to 43 inches usable after trimming the selvages. Home-decor fabric is usually 54 inches wide, and apparel fabric 58 to 60 inches. Always use the usable width, not the bolt width, in your math.
Should I prewash fabric before sewing?
Yes for anything that will be washed later: cotton can shrink 3 to 5 percent. Buy 5 to 10 percent extra to cover shrinkage, or prewash and press before cutting. For wall hangings and decor that never wash, prewashing is optional.
How do I account for pattern repeats?
Add one full repeat per length for large prints that must match across panels. A 12-inch repeat on 3 panels adds about a yard total. Small all-over prints need no allowance. Check the repeat size on the bolt end before buying.
What does nap mean in fabric?
A directional surface, like velvet or corduroy, where the fibers lie one way. All pieces must be cut in the same direction or the color shifts between panels. Nap layouts use 10 to 15 percent more fabric because pieces cannot be flipped to nest efficiently.
How many yards are in a fat quarter?
A fat quarter is a quarter-yard cut differently: 18 Γ 22 inches instead of 9 Γ 44. It is not a quarter of a yard in length; it is a quarter square yard in a more usable shape for quilting. Four fat quarters equal one yard of total fabric but not one continuous yard.
How much fabric for a tablecloth?
Table length plus twice the drop, by table width plus twice the drop. A 72 Γ 40 inch table with a 12-inch drop needs 96 Γ 64 inches of fabric: about 2.75 yards of 54-inch fabric (one width covers the 64 inches). Round up for hems.
Why do I always run short despite the math?
The usual thieves: forgetting hem allowances (add 4 to 8 inches per length), using bolt width instead of usable width, pattern matching, nap direction, and shrinkage. Add 10 percent waste to every calculation and the shortage stops happening.