Calculators & Charts

The sums and lookups I end up doing over and over at the cutting table, turned into small tools. Each one explains the method behind it, so you can check the numbers or do them by hand when you're away from a screen. They all work in inches or centimetres, and everything runs in your browser.

• Circle Skirt Calculator

  Work out the waist radius, hem radius, cutting layout and fabric needed for a full, three-quarter, half or quarter circle skirt, in inches or centimetres.

• Fabric Width Converter

  Convert a pattern's fabric requirement from one fabric width to another - 36", 45", 54", 60" or any width in centimetres - with a printable conversion chart.

• Ease Calculator

  Compare your body measurement with a pattern's finished garment measurement to see how much ease it has and how it will fit - or work out the finished measurement you need for the fit you want.

• Needle, Thread & Stitch Length Chart

  Which machine needle, thread and stitch length to use for chiffon, cotton, linen, wool, denim, jersey, spandex and more - a searchable chart, plus a millimetre to stitches-per-inch converter.

• Seam Allowance Converter

  Convert seam allowances between inches and millimetres - 5/8", 1/2", 3/8", 1 cm, 1.5 cm and more - plus the seam allowance conventions used by different pattern companies, and how to add allowances to patterns that don't include them.

• Body Measurement Worksheet

  How to take the body measurements dressmaking patterns ask for - bust, high bust, waist, hip, back length, shoulder, arm and more - with a fill-in worksheet that saves in your browser and prints on one page.