# Upholstery yardage chart Published upholstery yardage charts quote about 5 to 7 yards of 54-inch cloth for an armchair, 10 to 13 for a loveseat and 10 to 18 for a three-seat sofa. The spread on that last figure is the thing to understand before using any chart: one trade chart says 10 yards for a six-foot sofa and another says 18 for a three-cushion one, because a single number has to bundle a style, a skirt, arm covers, pillow backs and a pattern-matching allowance, and no chart says which of those it has included. A piece list priced against your own roll width does not have that problem. Source: https://fabricmeasure.com/charts/upholstery-yardage-chart/ Last updated: 2026-08-21 (method v1) Published by FabricMeasure. --- ## What two published trade charts quote Both assume 54 inch cloth, the width most US upholstery fabric is sold in. | Furniture | Yards | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | 6 ft sofa | 10 | C.S. Osborne & Co. | | 7 ft sofa | 11 | C.S. Osborne & Co. | | 9 ft sofa | 13 | C.S. Osborne & Co. | | Loveseat | 11 | C.S. Osborne & Co. | | Club or lounge chair | 5.5 | C.S. Osborne & Co. | | Three-cushion sofa | 18 | InteriorDecorating.com | | Two-cushion loveseat | 13 | InteriorDecorating.com | | Ottoman | 3.5 | InteriorDecorating.com | **The two disagree by 80% on the same sofa** - 10 yards for a six-foot sofa on one chart, 18 for a three-cushion sofa on the other. Neither is wrong. Both carry the same small print: Add for arm covers, self-lined skirts and attached pillow backs. A matching allowance is included; large repeats may take more. A single number has to bundle a style, a skirt, arm covers, pillow backs and a matching allowance, and no chart says which it included. ## What a piece list gives instead Each figure below is the same furniture on the same 54 inch cloth, plain, with the 10% cutting margin the trade adds - computed from a list of named rectangles packed across the roll rather than quoted as a single number. | Furniture | Pieces | Widest piece | Yards | Metres | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Dining chair seat | 1 | 55 cm | 0.75 | 0.7 | | Footstool or ottoman | 2 | 60 cm | 1.5 | 1.4 | | Armchair | 8 | 130 cm | 5.5 | 5 | | Two-seat sofa | 8 | 140 cm | 9.25 | 8.5 | | Three-seat sofa | 8 | 190 cm | 12.5 | 11.4 | The dimensions behind these are typical for each type rather than measured off any particular chair, and are checked to sit inside the range the published charts quote. Measure your own frame and the estimate stops being an estimate. ## Common questions ### How many yards do I need to reupholster a sofa? Published charts say 10 yards of 54-inch cloth for a six-foot sofa, 11 for a seven-foot one and 13 for a nine-foot one — and a different chart says 18 for a three-cushion sofa. Both are honest about their own furniture; they simply include different things. Use a chart to sanity-check a figure, and a piece list to get one. ### Why do upholstery yardage charts disagree with each other? Because a single number has to stand for a whole piece of furniture, and the same sofa can have a skirt or not, arm covers or not, attached pillow backs or not, and a pattern that needs matching or not. Every chart bundles some of those and says only that you should "add for arm covers, self lined skirts and attached pillow backs". Two charts making different assumptions produce different numbers without either being wrong. ### Do these figures assume 54-inch fabric? Yes. Almost all upholstery cloth sold in the United States is 54 inches wide, and every chart on this page assumes it. On a narrower European roll the same furniture takes more, because the pieces pack differently across the width rather than because the furniture changed — which is exactly the sort of thing a chart cannot show you and a cutting plan can. ### Is a yardage chart enough to order from? For a plain cloth on ordinary furniture, a chart plus 10 to 15 per cent is what most people order on and it usually works. It stops working when the fabric has a pattern repeat to match, when the roll is not 54 inches, or when the piece is unusual — and those are the three cases where a chart quietly under-orders rather than telling you it cannot help. ### How much extra should I add for a pattern repeat? It depends on the repeat and on how the pieces fall, which is why no chart gives a number for it. Every cut has to start at the same point in the design, so each piece is rounded up to a whole repeat: a 64 cm repeat on a piece needing 70 cm of length costs 128 cm. The upholstery calculator does that rounding piece by piece rather than applying a percentage. ## Related tools - [Upholstery fabric calculator](https://fabricmeasure.com/calculators/upholstery-fabric-calculator/): An editable panel list instead of a rule of thumb — with the cutting plan and the seams it implies. - [Fabric weight chart](https://fabricmeasure.com/charts/fabric-weight-chart/): Weight bands in g/m² and oz/yd², and what each band is actually used for. - [Fabric yardage calculator](https://fabricmeasure.com/calculators/fabric-yardage-calculator/): Piece size, how many, roll width — the length to buy, and the strip you pay for but never cut. - [Cushion fabric calculator](https://fabricmeasure.com/calculators/cushion-fabric-calculator/): Cover size, back opening and piping in; the length to buy and a row-by-row cutting plan out.