🧶 Fabric Yardage Calculator
Enter your cushion size, quantity, fabric width, and cover style to get the yards of fabric to buy — seam allowance and pattern-repeat waste included, rounded up to the nearest quarter yard.
🧮 Calculate Your Yardage
🧶 Fabric to buy
| Panels per cover | 2 |
| Total panels | 8 |
| Fabric length | 76″ |
| Yards to buy | 2.25 yd |
Buy the right amount of fabric
Guessing at yardage means either coming up short mid-project — with a dye lot you can't rematch — or overbuying expensive decorator fabric. This calculator lays your panels out across the real bolt width and adds the waste a pattern repeat forces, so your order is right the first time.
It handles both classic cover styles: a simple two-panel knife edge, and a three-panel envelope back that slips over the insert without a zipper. Switch between them to see how the yardage changes.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How does the calculator lay out the panels?
Each cover is broken into panels: a knife-edge cover is two panels (front and back), and an envelope cover is three (a full front plus two overlapping back flaps). Each panel adds your seam allowance on all sides. The tool fits as many panels as will sit side by side across your fabric width, counts the rows needed, multiplies by the panel length, and totals the fabric — then rounds up to the nearest quarter yard.
Why does fabric width matter so much?
Wider fabric fits more panels across, so you need fewer rows and less length. Quilting cotton is usually 44 inches, home-decor and upholstery fabric 54, and some 60. Enter the actual bolt width — dropping from 54 to 44 inches can push you into an extra row and another half-yard.
What is a pattern repeat and why does it add fabric?
A pattern repeat is the distance before a printed or woven motif starts again. To make the design line up across seams and between cushions, each panel has to be cut on the repeat, so its length is rounded up to a whole multiple of the repeat. That rounding is waste, and the calculator includes it — leave the field at 0 for plain, non-directional fabric.
Should I add extra for safety?
The result already rounds up to the next quarter yard, which gives a small cushion. For a first project, directional fabric, or piping and welting, buying an extra quarter to half yard is sensible — offcuts are handy for testing seams and making matching accents.