Leather & Fabric Calculator Tool

Upholstery leather (sometimes called leather fabric) is not sold by the yard in sheets or rolls like man-made fabrics, but comes directly from the cowhide. The average cowhide is 50 square feet (sq ft) but cows vary in size. Often, upholsterers will give project estimates in fabric yards (36" long x 54" wide) instead of square feet which is how leather is always sold. Don't worry, making the conversion from "by the yard" is easy! Use the calculator to determine how much leather to buy.  Rule of thumb: 1 fabric yard = 18 sq ft of leather.  Note: this conversion to leather includes a 30% waste factor due to variation in hide shapes & presence of natural markings). 

Type your estimate in yards in the box to convert to square feet

Fabric yard

=

Square feet of leather

Example:

 

I’m reupholstering my grandfather's wingback chair. My upholsterer says I need 6.5 yards of fabric but I want to do it in leather. How much do I need?

It sounds like you need 117 sq ft (6.5 x 18), which is approximately 2 large hides.