Fabric Width Reference and Converter

Width is the number most often confused, because mills quote in centimetres, US buyers quote in inches, and the number on the roll is rarely the number you can actually cut. A 150 cm fabric is not a 59 inch fabric — it is 58.66 inches, and the 1 cm difference is enough to move a cutting plan. This reference gives the standard widths, the usable width after selvage, and the conversion that every weight, consumption and freight calculation depends on.

Standard Knit Widths

Most knit fabric is produced on the same handful of machine widths. Anything outside this list usually means a special order, and a longer lead time and a per-kg price premium.

Standard Woven Widths

Quoted Width Is Not Usable Width

Selvage is the tightly woven finished edge running along both sides of the roll. It does not stretch, it cannot be cut into a panel, and it is included in the quoted width. Every calculation on this site uses usable open width, and the difference is normally 1 to 2 cm per side.

Deductions to apply:

• Knits, standard: 1 cm per side, so 2 cm total. This is the most common case and the default in the converter above.
• Knits, wide or heavy fleece: 1.5 cm per side, because thicker constructions need a wider selvage to stay stable on the machine.
• Woven, standard: 1.5 cm per side, since woven selvages are heavier than knit.
• Woven, wide or heavily finished: 2 cm or more per side, and shrinkage during finishing can reduce the open width further.

Open width also changes during finishing. A fabric that leaves the knitting machine at 155 cm may finish at 150 cm after relaxation and compaction. This is why the width on the spec sheet should state whether it is the knitted or the finished open width, and the tolerance, usually plus or minus 3 percent or plus or minus 2 cm, whichever is greater.

The Centimetre to Inch Trap

Mills quote in centimetres and US buyers quote in inches, and the two do not round cleanly. The conversion is 1 inch = 2.54 cm exactly, so:

• 150 cm is 59.06 inches, not 59 — the difference is 1.5 mm per side.
• 180 cm is 70.87 inches, not 71.
• 160 cm is 62.99 inches, almost exactly 63 but not quite.
• 110 cm is 43.31 inches, often quoted as 44 — a 1.8 cm gap.

The practical consequence: if a pattern was cut assuming 59 inch fabric and the mill delivers 150 cm, you have 10 mm less than the pattern expects across the whole width. Over a 1.5 m panel that is enough to matter at the seam. Specify in centimetres and let the pattern room convert, rather than specifying in inches and hoping the mill rounds up.

Why Width Changes the Cost Per Garment

Width is the multiplier on everything else. Because weight per metre is GSM multiplied by width in metres, a 1.80 m fleece consumes 20 percent more fibre per metre than the same fabric at 1.50 m. For a cutting room laying panels side by side, wider is not automatically better — it is better only when the marker fits.

• Weight per metre = GSM × usable width in metres. A 320 GSM fleece at 1.78 m usable width weighs 570 g per metre.
• Roll weight = weight per metre × roll length. A 50 m roll of that fleece is 28.5 kg.
• Rolls per order = quantity ÷ roll length, rounded up. The remainder is a partial roll, which is often charged at full roll rate.

Wider fabric can also reduce consumption per garment when the marker nests better, which is why a 1.80 m fleece often beats a 1.50 m fleece for a hoodie even though the metre costs more. The only way to know is to run the marker. Use the garment yardage calculator for the consumption side of this.

Width and Container Loading

Width determines the roll length, and roll length determines how many rolls sit end to end across a container. A 2.35 m interior holds two 1.80 m rolls with about 0.55 m of dead space per pair. This is the single largest source of wasted freight space in fabric shipping, and it is why the container loading calculator asks for width before it asks for anything else.

Fabric wider than about 2.35 m cannot be double-loaded across the container and must run in a single row, which reduces capacity by 15 to 25 percent. If your pattern needs a wide fabric, build that into the freight cost from the start rather than discovering it at booking.