How Much Upholstery Fabric Do I Need


As we have a huge selection of upholstery fabrics online from some of the world’s leading brands, we often get asked how much upholstery fabric do I need to buy, either for a new sofa or chair, or for a re-upholstery job on that all important treasured piece of furniture.
It can be a difficult task to work out how much upholstery fabric you may need, and really your upholsterer will advise how much they require to do the work, once they receive measurements and photos or view the upholstery piece in person. Quantities will invariable depend on the fabric you choose, as you may need more to allow for pattern matching if using a patterned fabric.
This is meant to be a general guide since all furniture is unique and will not necessarily match what is shown on the guide, however lets take a look at some key pieces of furniture for you to reference.
Reupholstering a wing chair is a great way to give it a new look, and as a general rule of thumb approx. 6-7 meters is recommended.
However not all wingback chairs are created equal and with different sizes and shape, plus should your wingback chair have a skirt then you could need more fabric.
Also consider if your fabric has a large pattern repeat then extra fabric maybe required.
A tip would be to order more fabric and then if you have some left over you could always make a scatter cushion to complement the chair.

Club chair or tub chair? The question just highlights the many shapes and sizes of chair models. For a club chair usually approx. 6 meters of fabric is enough to cover a small club chair.
If your chair is larger you may need more.
A Chaise longue or (Chaise Lounge) would generally require approximately 7.5 meters of upholstery fabric.
Some people question if it is Chaise Longue or a Chaise Lounge? To clarify Chaise Longue is a French term which can refer to any reclining long chair for example a deckchair, but the literal translation in English is “Long Chair”. The Chaise Lounge is a term used in the United States which refers to any long reclining chair. Therefore, both terms are current.
In England Chaise Longue can also be applied to what others may term a day bed so the amount of fabric required for a Chaise Longue can vary considerably based on the design and style.

The office chair, the trusted piece of sturdy furniture that sits in the study or home office that sees regular use. Well if you are buying new or reupholstering how much fabric is required to cover this item?
Again, it depends as always on size and style. For the smaller models 1-2 meters would be sufficient but for the more elaborate and large office chairs can take up to 4-5 meters.
Perhaps the hardest question to answer how much upholstery fabric do I need for a sofa? We would therefore always advise to check with your upholsterer prior to ordering as this is a guide.
Due to the huge array of different styles of sofa models and sizes available today each will require a different amount of upholstery fabric.
However generally speaking for a 2 seater sofa usually an amount of 10-15 meters is needed. A standard 3 seater sofa will need anything between 11m and 18.5m depending on the arms, height of the back and any extra details. If you have a large corner sofa then expect to need approximately 30m-40m size depending, to cover all the cushions and sofa structure.
It can all depend of course if you have a plain or patterned fabric, as it goes without saying a large patterned fabric will require more fabric than a plain due to pattern matching, perhaps on average 2 meters more.
Here we look at some common models
How Much Upholstery Fabric Do I Need For A Chesterfield Sofa
How Much Upholstery Fabric Do I Need For A Knole Sofa
Where lovers meet, or just that extra wide chair to slouch into and watch TV.
How much fabric to reupholster a loveseat is always an interesting question. The style of the loveseat is what is important here but as a guide we would say approx. 5-7 meters.