Sofa Fabric Yardage Calculator
Estimate the upholstery fabric to recover a sofa from its length and type, with an allowance for matching a pattern repeat.
Fabric to order
Assumes fabric sold by the yard at about 54″ (137 cm) usable width. Buy a little extra and keep the dye-lot the same across the whole roll.
Length, type, and pattern waste
Two sofas of the same length can need very different amounts of fabric. A tidy loveseat has fewer and simpler panels than a corner sectional with an extra arm, a chaise, and a run of matching cushions, so this tool uses a different yardage rate per metre for each type and then scales it by your sofa’s length.
Pattern is the other big lever. A plain fabric wastes almost nothing, but a bold repeat forces you to line every seam up, cutting each piece to the next full repeat and binning the rest. That is why the estimate grows with the size of the repeat, and why it is worth confirming the fabric width and buying a single dye-lot before you commit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much fabric does it take to reupholster a sofa?
It scales with length and complexity. As a rough guide, a loveseat needs on the order of 10 yards, a standard three-seat sofa 14–16 yards, and a corner sectional 25–35 yards of ~54-inch upholstery fabric. This tool applies a per-metre yardage rate for the sofa type you pick and multiplies by your sofa's length, then adds waste for pattern matching.
Why does the pattern repeat add so much fabric?
On a patterned fabric every panel has to start at the same point in the design so seams line up, which means cutting each piece to the next full repeat and discarding the offcut. The larger the vertical repeat, the more you throw away. The tool adds roughly half a percent of waste per centimetre of repeat, capped at 30%; a plain fabric adds nothing.
What fabric width does the estimate assume?
It assumes upholstery fabric sold by the yard at about 54 inches (137 cm) of usable width, which is the common width for furnishing fabric. A narrower fabric will need proportionally more length; a wider one, less. Always check the bolt width before ordering.
Should I buy extra, and why keep the same dye-lot?
Yes — buy a little more than the estimate. Cutting mistakes, matching arms and cushions, and a spare for future repairs all eat into a roll. Buy it all at once from the same dye-lot, because the same colour can vary noticeably between production runs and a mid-project top-up may not match.
Is this an exact cutting plan?
No. A professional upholsterer measures every panel — inside and outside arms, back, seat, deck, and cushions — and lays out a cutting plan for your specific frame. This tool gives a planning-stage total to budget and order against, not a panel-by-panel guarantee.
Estimates for planning — not professional interior-design advice. Measure your space, panels, and the fabric’s width, and confirm with your upholsterer before ordering.