PLABRIC
The science of fabric, made practical — plain-English guides to fibers, weaves, and finishes, plus the textile calculators every maker, sourcing pro, and mill floor needs.
From converting GSM to ounces and denier to tex, to sizing yardage for a project, reading a thread count and cover factor, and planning for shrinkage before you cut, Plabric pairs free hands-on textile calculators with plain-English guides and a richly illustrated museum of fabric. Understand cloth, choose it better.
Textile & Fabric Calculators
Free tools for anyone who works with cloth — fabric weight, yarn count, project yardage, thread count and cover factor, and fabric shrinkage.
Fabric Weight Converter (GSM ↔ oz/yd²)
Convert a fabric's areal weight between metric GSM and imperial ounces per square yard, and see which weight band it falls into
Fabric Weight from Dimensions
Turn a fabric's GSM and a roll or cut size into a total weight in kilograms and grams, plus weight per running metre
Denier / Tex / Dtex Yarn Count Converter
Move a yarn spec between denier, tex, and dtex, and read the equivalent metric (Nm) and cotton (Ne) counts
Fabric Yardage Calculator
Work out how much fabric to buy from the area you need, the bolt's usable width, and a waste allowance — in metres, yards, and whole rolls
Thread Count & Cover Factor Calculator
Add ends and picks per inch for a woven fabric's thread count and warp:weft balance, plus the Peirce cover factor from yarn counts
Fabric Shrinkage Calculator
Measure shrinkage from a before/after wash, or work backwards to the length to cut so a finished piece lands at the right size
Museum of Fabric
Explore an immersive museum of cloth in all its forms — the natural and manufactured fibres spun into yarn, the weaves and knits that turn yarn into fabric, the dyes, prints, and finishes that give it colour and character, and the technical and industrial textiles engineered for performance, each in its own gallery, so you can get to know the stories behind every kind of fabric: what it is made of, how it is built, and why it behaves the way it does.
Tour the museum →From the Journal
Fresh guides on fibres and yarns, weaves and knits, fabric weight and thread count, dyeing and finishing, technical textiles, and choosing the right cloth for a job, plus plain-language explainers on the science behind it.
Wool Fabric Weights: Per Metre, GSM and Worsted Counts
Suiting merchants quote weight per running metre, not per square metre. How to convert it, read worsted counts and Super numbers, and test wool without felting it.
What Is GSM in Fabric, and How Do You Convert It to Ounces?
GSM is simply the weight of one square metre of cloth. The exact conversion to ounces per square yard, worked examples from 60 to 400 GSM, and how to weigh a sample yourself.
What Does Thread Count Really Mean for Bed Sheets?
Thread count adds ends and picks per inch, and leaves out yarn size. Why the same count can mean different sheets, how plies inflate counts, and how to check a claim.
What Does Ne 40 Mean? Cotton Yarn Counts Explained
Cotton counts from Ne 10 to Ne 80 converted to tex and denier, what two-ply notation means, and why a finer yarn makes a more open cloth at the same thread count.
Should You Pre-Wash Fabric Before Sewing?
Pre-washing solves some problems and creates others. Which fabrics to pre-wash, which to leave alone, how to do it well, and the quilting debate in brief.
Percale vs Sateen: Weave, Thread Count and Cover Factor
How percale and sateen are woven, why sateen carries more warp threads, what the cover factor shows about each, and how they differ in feel, wear and care.
Keep Learning
Plain-language explainers on the fibres cloth is made from, the weaves and knits that build it, the units that measure fabric weight and yarn count, and the craft of choosing and caring for textiles — everything you need to dig deeper into how fabric really works.
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