How much fabric do I need?
Fabric is sold by length off a roll of fixed width, so the question is really how long a piece you need. Lay your pieces out across the width, as many side by side as fit, then add up the rows. The calculator tries each piece both ways round and picks the one that uses less, unless you tell it the print only runs one way. Curtain panels are always cut with the length running down the fabric.
Width matters as much as length. Quilting cotton is 42–44 in wide (about 40 in once the selvedges are trimmed), home decor fabric 54 in, fleece and minky about 60 in, and wide backing 108 in. A blanket that fits across 60 in fleece in one piece would need two widths of quilting cotton joined together.
The formula in plain English
- Pieces per row = usable fabric width ÷ piece width, rounded down.
- Rows = number of pieces ÷ pieces per row, rounded up.
- Fabric = rows × piece length, for each kind of piece, added together and rounded up to 1/4 yd (or 10 cm).
- Pieced quilt top = width × length × (1 + allowance for seams) ÷ usable width. A rough guide: your pattern's own figures are better.
Worked example: a no-sew fleece tie blanket
- Finished blanket 50 × 60 in, with 4 in fringe on every side: cut each layer 58 × 68 in
- Fleece is 60 in wide, about 58 in usable, so each layer fits across in one piece
- Two layers: 2 × 68 in = 136 in, about 3.8 yd
- Buy 4 yd, or 2 yd each of two different fleeces
- At $13 a yard, that's $52.00 of fleece
A pieced throw quilt top (50 × 65 in) works out the same way by area: 3,250 sq in plus 25% for seams is about 4,060 sq in, and over 40 in of usable cotton that's 102 in. Buy 3 yd in total, $39.00 at $13 a yard.
Precut fabric sizes
Typical sizes and counts; they vary by brand. Yardage is the same area of 42 in wide fabric.
| Precut | What's in it | About |
|---|---|---|
| Mini charm pack | 42 squares, 2.5 × 2.5 in | 1/8 yd |
| Charm pack | 42 squares, 5 × 5 in | 3/4 yd |
| Layer cake | 42 squares, 10 × 10 in | 2 3/4 yd |
| Jelly roll | 40 strips, 2.5 × 42 in | 2 3/4 yd |
| Honey bun | 40 strips, 1.5 × 42 in | 1 5/8 yd |
| Fat eighth | 1 piece, 9 × 21 in | 1/8 yd |
| Fat quarter | 1 piece, 18 × 21 in | 1/4 yd |
| Half yard | 1 piece, 18 × 42 in | 1/2 yd |
| Bolt | Fabric rolled on a board | 10–15 yd |
Inches and metres to yards
| Yards | Inches | Centimetres |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 yd | 4.5 in | 11.4 cm |
| 1/4 yd | 9 in | 22.9 cm |
| 1/3 yd | 12 in | 30.5 cm |
| 3/8 yd | 13.5 in | 34.3 cm |
| 1/2 yd | 18 in | 45.7 cm |
| 5/8 yd | 22.5 in | 57.1 cm |
| 2/3 yd | 24 in | 61.0 cm |
| 3/4 yd | 27 in | 68.6 cm |
| 7/8 yd | 31.5 in | 80.0 cm |
| 1 yd | 36 in | 91.4 cm |
One metre is 1.09 yards (39.4 in), so metres are a little longer than yards: 0.5 m = 0.55 yd, 1 m = 1.09 yd, 1.5 m = 1.64 yd, 2 m = 2.19 yd, 3 m = 3.28 yd, 5 m = 5.47 yd.
FAQs
How many fat quarters are in a yard?
Four. A fat quarter is a yard cut in half both ways, about 18 × 21 in (or 18 × 22 in), which is handier for blocks than a long quarter-yard strip of 9 × 42 in.
How much fabric do I need for a pillow cover?
For an 18 in insert with an envelope back, cut a 19 in square front and two 19 × 13 in backs. On 54 in home decor fabric that's 32 in of fabric, so buy 1 yd, which also covers a 20 in pillow.
Should I buy extra fabric?
Yes, a little. Cotton can shrink 3–5% if you pre-wash it, large prints need extra to match the pattern repeat across seams, and a cutting mistake is cheaper to fix with fabric in hand. The calculator already rounds up to the next 1/4 yd.
Does it work for clothes?
No: garments have curved pattern pieces, so use the yardage chart on your sewing pattern. This calculator is for rectangles: quilts, blankets, cushions and curtains.
Making a quilt? Work out the backing and batting and the binding too. Want this calculator on your own site? Embed it for free.
More quilting calculators
- Quilt Backing Calculator: Backing, batting and binding yardage for any quilt size, with the seam layout that wastes least.
- Quilt Binding Calculator: How many binding strips to cut and how much fabric to buy, straight grain or bias, for any quilt size.
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