Width decides almost everything
Two pieces that sit side by side on a wide bolt have to sit one below the other on a narrow one. That single fact is usually worth a metre. It is also the question the shop will ask you first.
Yardage
Fabric yardage · works without an account
How much fabric
do I buy?
Not the length of the garment. The length of the cloth. Pick what you are making, tell it how wide the bolt is, and it will show you the metres, where each one goes, and how much more to add so running short cannot happen.
- Always a range, never a single figure
- The layout is drawn so you can check the number
- It sells no fabric and quotes no prices
Buy between
2.00–2.20
metres of cloth
A shirt in size M from 145 cm cloth. This is a range, not a figure — see what it cannot know, below.
+ 0.3 m
Buy 0.3 m more than the top of the range. If you run short, the same fabric from a different dye lot will not match — and that usually cannot be fixed. The spare is not wasted: facings, pockets and bindings all come out of it.
Ask the shop for 2.50 m
cm
Drag it. The metres and the layout redraw as you go — width is the largest single variable in the figure, and this is the fastest way to see it.
Where every metre goes
145 cm wide- BKBack
- FRFront ×2
- PLFront placket ×2
- SLSleeve ×2
- YKYoke ×2
- PKPocket
- COCollar and stand ×2
- CFCuff ×2
Each piece is drawn as the rectangle it fits inside. Real pattern pieces are curved and slot into one another, so the length quoted above is below the total height of these boxes — that allowance is listed in the breakdown as part of the gaps.
Where it goes
These add up to 2.00 m, the bottom of the range.
| Body panelsThe shapes themselves, laid flat across 141 cm of usable cloth. | 0.93 m |
|---|---|
| SleevesThe shapes themselves, laid flat across 141 cm of usable cloth. | 0.49 m |
| Facings and placketsThe shapes themselves, laid flat across 141 cm of usable cloth. | 0.09 m |
| Cuffs, bands, pocketsThe shapes themselves, laid flat across 141 cm of usable cloth. | 0.14 m |
| Gaps between piecesCloth you pay for and do not cut. No layout fills a rectangle exactly. The drawing above shows where it goes, already allowing for the curves of one piece nesting into the hollows of the next. | 0.21 m |
| Shrinkage reserve5% held back so the garment still fits after the cloth is washed. | 0.09 m |
| Bottom of the range | 2.00 m |
What is pushing it up
Measured against the same garment cut from 150 cm plain cloth.
- Fabric width — 145 cm+ 0.30 m
On 150 cm cloth the same pieces need 1.90 m. Width is the largest single variable in this figure.
- Facings, bands and pockets+ 0.23 m
The parts nobody counts when they measure the finished garment. This is the usual reason a length worked out from the garment length alone comes up short.
- Gaps in the layout+ 0.21 m
Pattern pieces are not rectangles and do not tile. The narrower the cloth, the worse this gets.
- Shrinkage reserve+ 0.09 m
Held back for the wash before cutting. Natural fibres move most; the true figure depends on the cloth, which this service has no way of knowing.
The same garment, other widths
You are on 145 cm| Width | Buy | Against your bolt | With the margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 cm | 3.05 – 3.35 m | +1.15 m | 3.65 m |
| 110 cm | 2.80 – 3.10 m | +0.90 m | 3.40 m |
| 115 cm | 2.25 – 2.50 m | +0.30 m | 2.80 m |
| 120 cm | 2.25 – 2.50 m | +0.30 m | 2.80 m |
| 140 cm | 2.00 – 2.20 m | 0.00 m | 2.50 m |
| 150 cm | 1.70 – 1.90 m | -0.30 m | 2.20 m |
The figures above are always shown. Putting the layouts for several widths side by side on one screen, and printing the sheet to take with you, are on the paid tiers.
What this cannot know
- The actual pattern you are using. This is a typical layout for this kind of garment, not a reading of your pieces.
- How you cut. Single layer, folded, or with the pieces laid out differently all change the length.
- What this cloth really does in the wash. The shrinkage held back here is a reserve, not a measurement of your fabric.
- The size of the repeat on a check or a large print. A big repeat costs far more than the allowance made here.
- Whether your fabric has a flaw in it. Shops cut around faults, and you may be handed a length with one in the middle.
If you are working from a commercial paper pattern, follow the yardage table printed on its envelope instead. That table was worked out for that exact set of pieces. This one was not.
The layout and the breakdown come out on one page, in black and white, with the piece codes readable.
Why you cannot work it out from the length of the garment
Six things go into the figure, and only one of them is the length of the finished garment. Cloth is bought by the metre off a bolt of a fixed width, and the shapes have to fit across that width before length even comes into it.
Pile and one-way prints cannot be turned
On plain cloth a cutter turns pieces head to toe to fill the gaps. On velvet, corduroy or a print with a top and a bottom, every piece has to lie the same way up, and the gaps stay empty.
Checks have to meet at the seams
Matching a check costs up to a full repeat of the pattern at every row of pieces. A large repeat is the single most expensive thing you can ask a length of cloth to do.
Bias eats a square, not a rectangle
A piece cut at forty-five degrees sits inside a square much larger than the piece. This is why a simple slip dress can want more cloth than a shirt with sleeves and a collar.
The wash takes some of it
Cloth moves the first time it is washed, and it moves before you cut, not after. A reserve is held back for it here — but how much a particular cloth really moves is not something this can know.
The small pieces add up
Facings, plackets, cuffs, waistbands, pocket bags. Nobody counts these when they measure a finished garment, and they are the usual reason a length worked out from the garment length comes up short.
Three fields, then the number
- 01
Say what you are making
Garment type and size. No pattern to upload, no photograph needed — most people are holding a bolt of cloth and nothing else.
- 02
Give the width the shop tells you
Drag it or type it. The metres and the cutting layout redraw as you move, so you can see the moment a piece stops fitting across the cloth.
- 03
Take the range and the margin
A range in metres, a drawing of where each metre goes, and how much to add on top so a dye-lot difference cannot ruin the garment.
What comes out
Real output, drawn by the same code that runs above. Every piece carries a hatch and a code so the sheet still works after a black-and-white print in a shop with a tired laser printer.
4.25–4.65 m+0.3
2.80–3.10 m+0.3
2.90–3.20 m+0.3
2.65–2.90 m+0.3
2.45–2.70 m+0.3
1.75–1.90 m+0.3
The question the shop asks
Three bolts on the counter, three different answers
The same shirt in the same size wants 1.90 m from a 150 cm bolt and 3.10 m from a 110 cm one. Nothing about the garment changed. Standing at the counter, that comparison is the decision — and it is the one thing nobody offers to work out for you.
How the figure is builtPlans
The free tier gives you the whole calculation, including the margin advice and everything it cannot know. What you pay for is putting several widths side by side and taking the sheet with you.
Free
$0USD / MONTH
no card, no expiry · IVA 23% included
Enough to settle one project a month.
- 5 estimates a month
- One fabric width at a time
- Cutting layout with a watermark
- Full breakdown, drivers and margin advice
- No side-by-side width comparison
- No print sheet
- No saved projects
Cut
$7USD / MONTH
or $67 USD per year · IVA 23% included
For standing at the counter with three bolts in front of you.
- Unlimited estimates
- Several widths side by side
- No watermark
- Print sheet: layout and breakdown on one page
- Saved projects
- Optional photo check for pattern direction
Roll
$21USD / MONTH
or $202 USD per year · IVA 23% included
For several garments cut from the same length.
- Everything in Cut
- Multi-garment projects on one length
- Leftover tracking across projects
- Priority queue
Allowances are a monthly amount of use, not money. They do not carry over, cannot be topped up and cannot be cashed out. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled, and cancelling takes one click from your account page. Full plan terms.
Questions
- What if I buy what you said and it is not enough?
- Then the estimate was wrong, and that is exactly why it is a range with a margin on top rather than a figure. This works from a typical layout for that kind of garment; your pattern, your cutting and your cloth all move the result, and none of them are visible to it. Always buy above the top of the range by the margin shown. Running short is the failure that cannot be repaired — the same fabric from a different dye lot will not match — while buying over leaves you facings, pockets and bindings. If a shop will cut you a sample first, take it.
- I have a paper pattern. Do I follow you or the envelope?
- The envelope. Every time. The yardage table printed on a commercial pattern was worked out for that exact set of pieces at that exact size, by the people who drafted them. This tool has never seen those pieces. Use it for the cloth you are looking at before you have chosen a pattern, or to understand why the envelope figure changes so much between widths — not to overrule it.
- Do you use my uploads to train models?
- No. If you send a photograph so the pattern direction can be checked, it is used for that single check and then deleted; it is never used to train or improve any model, and it is never sold or shared for anyone else's training. Photographs are deleted within 30 days at the latest, and you can delete them immediately from your account. The calculation itself does not need a photograph at all.
- How accurate is this, and who is responsible if it is wrong?
- It is an estimate produced by software, not advice, and it comes with no guarantee of accuracy. The nesting arithmetic runs in your browser from a published table of typical piece sizes, so it is at least checkable — the drawing is the working. A model is only ever used to help identify whether a fabric has a direction, never to produce the metres. You are responsible for deciding what to buy, and the service accepts no responsibility for losses arising from fabric bought on the basis of an estimate. It must not be relied on for medical, legal, financial, safety, employment, credit, housing or judicial purposes.
- How do I cancel, and do I get money back?
- Cancel from your account page in one click, at any time. The subscription stays usable until the end of the period you have paid for and does not renew. Consumers in the EU have a 14-day right of withdrawal on distance contracts; because a subscription here starts working immediately, that right ends early only if you have ticked both separate boxes at checkout asking for immediate performance and acknowledging the loss of the right. If you did not tick both, the 14 days run as normal and you can withdraw for a refund. The full rules, including the statutory withdrawal form, are on the withdrawal page.
- What are the monthly allowances, exactly?
- An allowance is an amount of use for the month, nothing more. It is not money, not stored value, not refundable and not transferable. It resets at the start of each billing period and unused amounts do not carry over. There are no top-up packs and nothing to buy separately: if you run out, either wait for the reset or move to a higher plan.
- Is there an age limit?
- Yes. Accounts and subscriptions are for adults — you must be at least 18 years old to create an account or to subscribe. The site is not directed at children and no account is knowingly created for one. If you believe a child has registered, write to support and the account and any associated data will be removed.
- Do you sell fabric, or point me at a shop?
- No, and that is deliberate. No fabric is sold here, no shop or brand is recommended, no prices are quoted and there is no commercial relationship with any fabric seller or maker. The output is metres and a layout. Where you buy and what it costs are yours to decide, and nothing on this site has any interest in the answer.
Work it out before you get to the counter
No account needed for the calculation. The margin advice and the list of things it cannot know are never hidden behind anything.