Repeats & Drapery Yardage

How to calculate yardage for your drapery project

Terms and information you will need:

               Width of fabric-usually 54” for home décor fabric

               Vertical repeat  -this is the number of inches where you pattern repeats itself vertically

               Finished Length – the length that you want your draperies to be when they are fabricated

               Fullness-this is usually 2.5 times for pinched pleated drapery

Cut Length- The measurement that your fabric will be cut prior to fabrication including hems. This is calculated below:

Drapery fabric with no repeat (solid or texture)

For Pinch Pleated panel add 12 inches for hems (4” double bottom hem  and 4” on top hem)

For Grommet or Rod Pocket panels add 16” hems (4” double up in bottom & top hems)

Ex. I want my finished length to be 102”

     102” +12” hems = 114” cut length divided by 36 = 3.16 yards per panel

Drapery fabric with repeat

For Pinch Pleated panel add 12 inches for hems (4” double up in the bottom and 4” on top hem)  

For Grommet or Rod Pocket panels add 16” hems (4” double up in bottom & top hems)

Ex. I want my Pinch Pleated panels finished length to be 102”, my fabric has a 27” vertical repeat

102” + 12” hems= 114” divided by the repeat 27” =4.22 round this number up to 5 which equal the number of repeats you will need

                     5 repeats x the repeat 27” = 135” cut length divided by 36 = 3.75 yards per panel.

Your first cut can be at the 114” but every cut length after that must be at the 135” so that your panels will look the same.

Functioning Drapery Panels

         You will need to know the Face Width that you want the draperies to finish.  This usually is the left to right measurement from molding to molding unless of course your want your draperies to stack back off the window on to the wall. Functioning drapery panels should be some type of Pinched Pleat and fullness can be between 2 and 2.5 times fullness. Grommet panels are usually calculated at 1.5 times fullness. Unlined sheers at 3 times fullness.

Face width x fullness divided by 54” = the number of widths of fabric needed

Ex. 65” face width x 2.5 = 162.5 divided by 54”(width of fabric) = 3.00 which means you need 3 widths of fabric to cover the 65” space you want the drapes to cover so you 2 panels at 1.5 widths each or one panel at 3 widths.