How Much Fabric Do I Need? The Simple Answer

Here's the quick answer. For most projects, this is enough fabric:

Cushion cover: half a metre. Tote bag: half a metre. Simple skirt: 1.5 metres. Simple dress: 2 to 3 metres. Trousers or pyjama bottoms: 2 to 2.5 metres. Long or floaty dress: 3 to 4 metres.

Not sure? Buy half a metre extra. It costs a little more now. It saves the whole project later.

If you're using a pattern, the answer is printed on it

Look on the back of the pattern envelope. There's a small chart. Find your size along the top. Find the fabric width down the side. Where they meet is your number. That's it — the pattern company already did the maths for you.

What "fabric width" means (and why it matters)

Fabric comes on a roll. When we sell you one metre, that's one metre of length — the width comes free, and it's usually about 145cm on our fabrics. A wider fabric fits more pattern pieces side by side, so you need less length. If a pattern gives two numbers for two widths, use the one closest to your fabric.

Three things that mean "buy a bit more"

1. Big prints. If your fabric has a large pattern, you'll want the pattern to line up nicely at the seams. That uses extra. Add half a metre.

2. Fabric with a "direction". Velvet and some prints look different upside down. All your pieces must point the same way, which uses more fabric. Add half a metre.

3. Your first try at anything. Beginners unpick things. Sometimes we cut a piece wrong. Extra fabric turns a disaster into a shrug.

The good news about buying three metres

At Fabriques, fabric gets cheaper as you buy more — the discount appears automatically in your basket. So the "safe" amount often costs less per metre than the "exact" amount. Being careful literally pays.

Still unsure? Order a sample first — they start at £1.49 — or just reply to any of our emails and ask. A real person answers, and we'd rather help you get it right than sell you the wrong amount.