I’ll never forget the first time I made my two-seater sofa. I had just moved into my new apartment and wanted to furnish it on a budget by making some DIY furniture pieces.
Being an avid sewer and decorator, the idea of upholstering my own two-seater sofa set price intrigued me. However, one key question left me stumped – how much fabric would I need?
Estimating the fabric is crucial – too little, and you’ll come up short, leaving exposed foam and an incomplete couch.
Too much, and you’ve spent more than needed on often pricey upholstery fabric.
As a now seasoned DIYer with years of upholstery experience, let me provide some tips and a handy formula to calculate exactly how much fabric you need for sewing up an eye-catching and ultra-cozy two seater sofa.
Fabric Yardage Formula
The exact amount of fabric depends on a few key sofa dimensions. By plugging these numbers into the below formula, you’ll get the yardage amount you need to purchase with a built-in overage for seam allowances and pattern matching.
Fabric yards = ( sofa depth x 2 + sofa back height + sofa arm height x 2 ) x sofa width in inches x 1.15 / 36
Let’s break down what each variable means:
- Sofa depth: Seat depth from the front to the back cushion in inches
- Sofa back height: Height of the sofa backrest in inches
- Sofa arm height: Height of arms from the seat base to top in inches
- Sofa width: Width from arm to arm in inches
That 1.15 accounts for the 15% overage you should purchase to allow for seams, shrinkage, and print matching if your upholstery fabric has an intricate design.
I made the mistake of not buying enough extra in my first attempt. As a result, I scrimped by with barely enough fabric by using risky shortcuts like skipping pattern matching. Don’t make my mistake! Always get extra.
Calculating Fabric for a Standard Two Seater
As an example, let’s assume a two seater sofa with the following standard dimensions:
- Seat Depth: 22 inches
- Back Height: 35 inches
- Arm Height: 25 inches
- Seat Width: 50 inches
Plugging this in, we get:
Fabric = (22 x 2) + 35 + (25 x 2)) x 50 x 1.15 / 36 = 17.3 yards
So for a typical two seater sofa measuring 50″ wide by 22″ deep, you’d want to purchase around 17 yards for ample fabric with overage included.
Of course – tweak the dimensions for your particular sofa measurements. An oversized two-seater with a 60-inch width would need over 20 yards by the calculations.
Extra Tips and Fabric Savings
A few extra pointers to get the most value from your upholstery fabric purchase:
- Buy a common width like 54 or 60 inches to maximize use and cut down on waste from narrower Bolts
- Coordinate colorson patterned fabric so seams and color blocking look intentional
- Use leather, faux leather, or vinyl alternatives which require less yardage than woven fabrics
- Check outlet stores for discount upholstery fabric savings
There’s nothing better than snuggling into a custom-made sofa tailored exactly to your taste.
While it requires some calculating, with the above tips you can determine exactly how much fabric you need for sewing your dream two-seater sofa. Let me know in the comments if you have any other upholstery fabric tricks!
