Fabric width chart

Fabric rolls are sold in seven widths that cover almost everything on a shop shelf: 90, 112, 115, 137, 140, 150 and 274 cm, which are the imperial 36, 44, 45, 54, 55, 60 and 108 inches. Every metric figure is a rounded conversion rather than a measurement, so a roll sold as 54 inch measures 137.16 cm while one sold as 140 cm really is 140 — a gap of nearly 3 cm between two labels the trade treats as interchangeable.

The widths, and what comes on them

Cloth is woven to the loom, and looms were built for markets. That is the whole reason there are seven widths rather than one: a craft market that cuts small pieces never needed a wide loom, and an upholstery market that has to cut a seat without a join could not manage without one.

Two clusters do most of the work. Around 44–45 inches sits everything sold to dressmakers and quilters: printed cottons, lawns, commercial pattern fabrics. Around 54–60 inches sits everything sold by the metre for a room: curtain cloth, upholstery, linings, wide knits. The 36-inch roll is a survival from older dress fabrics, and 108 inches exists for one job only — backing a quilt without seaming it.

Why width matters more than the numbers suggest

A roll 10% wider does not save 10% of your cloth. It saves nothing at all until it saves a whole column of pieces, and then it saves a great deal at once. Because the count across is a whole number, the useful question is never "how much wider" but "does another piece fit".

Read the last column as money. On a 137 cm roll a 45 cm piece leaves a 2.2 cm strip that is worth nothing; on a 150 cm roll the same piece leaves 17.4 cm, which is enough for piping or a tie but not for another panel. Both rolls take 3 pieces across. Paying more per metre for the wider one buys you a strip of offcut and no extra panels — which is why the fabric yardage calculator works in whole columns rather than in area.

The same effect runs the other way and catches people harder. Losing a centimetre from a finished piece sometimes fits another column across, and that centimetre is worth far more than it looks. Designing to the roll is the single largest saving available on any project cut from rectangles.

Nominal width is not usable width

The figure on the bolt end is the nominal width, and it includes the selvedge. A selvedge may be soft enough to sew through, or it may be stiff, printed with the maker's name, or tightly woven enough to pucker a seam — in which case it has to be cut away and it was never yours to use.

On a wide furnishing roll losing 2 cm to selvedges changes nothing. On a 112 cm quilting cotton where you are trying to fit two 55 cm pieces across, it decides whether the project works. Where the width is doing real work in the layout, measure the cloth rather than trusting the label, and enter what you measured.

Pre-washing takes more. A cotton that shrinks 3% loses about 4 cm from a 137 cm roll before you have cut anything, and it shrinks in length too. If you intend to wash the finished article, wash the fabric first and measure it afterwards — the number on the label describes cloth you no longer have.

The two labels that are not the same fabric

Every metric figure in the first table is a rounded imperial one, and the rounding is not consistent. A roll sold as 54 inch measures 137.16 cm and is labelled 137; a roll sold as 140 cm is genuinely 140, and is 55.1 inches. Those are different fabrics that the trade routinely treats as one, and the gap between them is nearly 3 cm.

For a single width it does not matter. For four widths joined to reach a fixed finished size it is more than a centimetre of finished width per seam, which is the sort of error nobody notices until the curtains are hung. Where you are converting a pattern written for one roll to fabric sold on another, the fabric width converter converts the area rather than the length and refuses to answer where the substitution genuinely does not work.

When a wider roll cannot be used at all

Width is only free if the cloth can be turned. Three things stop it. A nap — velvet, corduroy, brushed cotton — has a direction that catches the light, so every piece must run the same way and none can be rotated to nest. A one-way print has the same problem for the same reason. And a vertical pattern repeat fixes where each piece can start down the roll, which removes most of the freedom a wider roll was supposed to buy.

Running a wide fabric sideways — railroading — is the exception that turns the constraint into an advantage: on a plain, non-directional cloth wide enough to cover the drop, the roll width becomes the length and a seam disappears entirely. It works on very few fabrics, and only on the ones where nothing about the weave has a direction.

Common questions

Is 54 inch fabric the same as 140 cm fabric?

No. 54 inches is 137.16 cm, and 140 cm is 55.1 inches. They are two different roll widths sold under labels that get used interchangeably. Over a single width the 3 cm gap rarely matters; across four joined widths in a made-to-measure curtain it is more than a centimetre of finished width per seam.

Does the width on the label include the selvedge?

Usually yes, and the selvedge is not usable cloth. A roll sold as 140 cm may give 136 cm you can actually cut into once a stiff or printed edge is trimmed away. Where the width decides how many pieces fit across, measure the fabric rather than trusting the bolt end.

Why is quilting cotton narrower than furnishing fabric?

Because the looms and the market are different. Quilting cotton is woven at 44 to 45 inches for a craft market that cuts small pieces, while furnishing and upholstery cloth is woven at 54 to 60 inches so a seat or a curtain drop can be cut without a join. Wide-back quilting fabric at 108 inches exists for exactly the same reason.

My pattern assumes a different width from my fabric. What now?

Convert the area rather than the length: multiply the pattern length by the pattern width and divide by your width. That works only if no single pattern piece is wider than your roll and the fabric has no nap or one-way print. The fabric width converter does the arithmetic and says when it cannot be trusted.

Related tools

Fabric width converter

Pattern written for one bolt width, fabric bought at another — work out the equivalent length.

Fabric yardage calculator

Piece size, how many, roll width — the length to buy, and the strip you pay for but never cut.

Fabric weight chart

Weight bands in g/m² and oz/yd², and what each band is actually used for.

Curtain fabric calculator

Track width, drop, fullness and pattern repeat in; metres or yards to buy out, with every allowance adjustable.

Updated 20 August 2026 · Method v1 · Written and maintained by Wickeey · Tell me if a result looks wrong