Before you place a yarn order, you need to know how much yarn the job actually consumes. Order too little and you halt production; order too much and you tie up cash. This guide walks through a practical method — from fabric weight to cones, cartons and final cost.
Step 1: Start from fabric weight
The yarn in a fabric is, broadly, the weight of the fabric itself (plus process loss). So begin with your fabric area and GSM:
- Fabric weight (kg) = GSM × area (m²) ÷ 1000
If you have 5,000 metres of 180 GSM fabric at 1.5 m width, that is 7,500 m², or 1,350 kg of fabric.
Step 2: Add process wastage
Spinning, winding, knitting or weaving and finishing all lose a little yarn. A typical allowance is 3–8% depending on process and fabric. Add it on top:
- Yarn required = fabric weight × (1 + wastage% ÷ 100)
At 5% wastage, 1,350 kg of fabric needs about 1,418 kg of yarn. Our Yarn Requirement Calculator does both steps for you.
Step 3: Convert to cones and cartons
Yarn ships on cones, packed into cartons. To plan logistics and storage, convert kilograms into cones and cartons with our Cone & Carton Estimator — enter your cone weight (e.g. 1.89 kg) and cones per carton to get whole-unit counts.
Step 4: Allow for shrinkage where it matters
If your finished dimensions are fixed, remember fabric shrinks in finishing. Work backwards from the finished size using our Shrinkage Allowance Calculator so you knit or weave enough greige to land on spec.
Step 5: Cost it out
Finally, turn quantity into money. Our Yarn Order Cost Estimator adds GST and freight to your rate so you see the landed cost before you commit. For multi-fibre blends, split the quantity by recipe first with the Blend Ratio Calculator.
Tell us your fabric spec and quantity — we will quote firm pricing and a lead time.
All the calculators above live on our buyer tools page.