Next time you are standing in that thrift store (or your great aunt's living room) pondering whether to take home the groovy chair with the hideous and shredded upholstery, this tool may come in handy. Because sometimes it is hard to imagine just how much fabric would be needed to redo a chair or sofa. And every yard counts.

Via: Honey & Fitz. - click through for an option to download them for easy printing or to keep them on file for handy reference.
(Images: Butler K. Fabric Yardage Chart Version 2, Knol 2009 via Honey & Fitz)

Shaw's Original Fir...
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
I sent a "GOOD QUESTION" but never saw it published and it was around how much fabric to buy for a craigslist club chair I purchased for $20.00!! I figure at that price, I could afford to tried to reupholster the chair myself.
YOU GUYS ROCK!
This is awesome thank you!
Thanks so much for linking to my post!
That's a good starting point, but don't be surprised if your upholsterer needs more yardage when there is a pattern to match. We just had a small loveseat (11-14 yards on this chart) that took over 25 yards because of a couple of details and a wide vertical stripe.
this is very helpful, thank you
What Josh W said! This is an excellent tool if you're looking at solids and some stripes. I upholstered a loveseat not too long ago with a fabric that had a repeat of almost 24". It took WAY more fabric than the customer expected and there was a lot of cut-off remnants due to matching up the pattern. We turned the cut-offs into pillows and other accessories that she turned around and sold for a profit. The customer was thrilled with the end result, though.
I think these measurement suggestions ARE for patterned fabrics. You would normally not need this much yardage to do these size pieces with regular fabric.
excellent, but I've held back as the whole thing makes me kinda nervous. one day maybe.
What about an average size simple dining chair with a pop out seat
Thanks - this is very useful.
This is useful....in America only. Wish there was a metric chart. :(
Well, I'd say these were minimum amounts.
For metric just get the equivalent in meters. (A yard is 36 inches and a meter is around 38-39, isn't it? You might have a bit extra, but not a lo9t.)
I have a chair roughly like the yellow one second from the end, but mine has double welting around the seat cushion and the back, so I figure that would take at least an extra yard or two to cut the strips on the diagonal for new welting. Details modify things.