This tablecloth size calculator converts a table's dimensions and a chosen drop into the exact cloth size, then tells you which stock size actually covers it and what drop that stock size really gives you. If you are making the cloth rather than buying it, it also works out the fabric length at your bolt width, including hems and any seams a wide cloth needs.
Arb Digital publishes it because the arithmetic looks trivial and the mistake is common: people add the drop once instead of twice. The drop appears on both sides of the table, so a 72 inch table with an 11 inch drop needs 94 inches of cloth, not 83. That single error produces a cloth that barely reaches the table edge.
What This Tablecloth Size Calculator Does
It handles rectangular, square, round and oval tables. For each it returns the exact cloth dimensions your drop implies, the smallest common stock size that covers them, the real drop that stock size produces on each axis, the cloth area, and the fabric length needed at a given bolt width with a hem allowance on every edge.
The fabric side is deliberately narrow. Our fabric yardage calculator is the general tool for converting any project's cut list into yardage, and the curtain fabric calculator and quilt fabric calculator apply their own conventions. What this page adds is the tablecloth-specific step: the doubled drop, the seated-clearance limit, and the panel-and-seam problem that appears whenever a cloth is wider than the bolt it is cut from.
How to Use It
- Pick the shape and measure the tabletop. Edge to edge, not including the overhang of a table runner or a protective pad. Include any leaves you plan to leave in.
- Choose a drop style, or type a custom drop. The floor-length option takes the drop from the table height field instead.
- Read the exact size first. That is the cloth the convention asks for, and it is the number to use if you are having one made.
- Then read the stock size and the actual drop. Stock sizes are coarse, so the drop you get will usually differ from the drop you chose, and often differs between the ends and the sides.
- Set the bolt width and hem if you are sewing. The tool reports how many fabric widths the cloth needs and therefore how many seams.
The Formula and How It's Calculated
For a rectangular, square or oval table the rule is cloth length = table length + 2 × drop and cloth width = table width + 2 × drop. For a round table it is cloth diameter = table diameter + 2 × drop. The doubling is the whole trick: the cloth hangs over on both sides of every axis.
Work the defaults through. A 72 in by 40 in table with an 11 in drop needs 72 + 22 = 94 in by 40 + 22 = 62 in. No stock cloth is 94 by 62, and the smallest common size that covers it is 108 by 70 in. That gives an actual drop of (108 − 72) ÷ 2 = 18 in on the ends and (70 − 40) ÷ 2 = 15 in on the sides — both larger than the 11 in requested, and unequal. This is completely normal for stock linen and it is precisely why the tool reports both drops separately.
The fabric calculation runs the other way. A 62 in wide cloth cut from a 54 in bolt needs two widths, because 62 ÷ 54 rounds up to 2, which means one seam. Each width is cut to the cloth length plus a hem allowance at each end, so 94 + 2 = 96 in, and two of those is 192 in, or 5.33 yards. Unit conversions use the exact international inch of 25.4 mm defined by NIST's SI Units – Length reference, which matters because linen sold in centimetres and linen sold in inches sit on the same shelf.
Choosing a Drop, and the Seated-Lap Limit
Drop is the only genuinely subjective input here, and it has one hard constraint. A standard dining table is about 30 inches high and a seated adult's thigh sits roughly 6 to 9 inches below the tabletop. A drop much beyond 15 inches therefore lands in a diner's lap, where it gets pulled, sat on and dragged when someone stands up. That is why formal drops stop around 15 inches and why floor-length cloths belong on buffet, display and cake tables where nobody sits.
Below that limit the choice is about register rather than function. A short drop of 6 to 8 inches reads casual and everyday, and it is the practical choice for a table in constant use. Ten to twelve inches is the standard dining drop and the one most stock cloths are designed around. Fifteen inches reads formal and looks best on a table that is not crowded with place settings.
One thing that is not a matter of taste: on a round table the drop is uniform by construction, which is why round tables photograph so well under linen. On a rectangular table the drop can only be uniform if the cloth's proportions match the table's, and stock sizes almost never do. If a matched drop matters to you, that is the argument for having a cloth cut to the exact figure this tool gives you.
Stock Sizes, and Why the Answer Is Always Bigger
Common rectangular cloth sizes are roughly 52×70, 60×84, 60×102, 60×120, 70×108, 70×120, 90×132 and 90×156 inches. Round cloths come at about 60, 70, 90, 108 and 120 inches diameter, and square cloths at 52, 60, 70 and 90 inches. Metric linen uses its own list — 140×180, 150×250, 160×300 cm and so on — which does not map onto the imperial sizes.
This tool always chooses the smallest stock size that fully covers the exact figure, never one that falls short. A cloth an inch short on one axis leaves the table edge showing on that side, and there is no way to correct it. Rounding up costs you a longer drop, which is a cosmetic outcome; rounding down costs you coverage, which is a functional one.
The consequence is that stock linen typically overshoots by several inches, and on rectangular tables it overshoots unevenly. If your calculated stock drop comes out above 15 inches on either axis and people will be seated, that is the signal to have the cloth made or to accept the shorter of the two drops by choosing a smaller stock size and checking the coverage yourself.
Sewing One: Panels, Seams and Fabric Direction
Almost every dining tablecloth is wider than the fabric it is cut from. Standard bolts run 44 to 45 inches for quilting cottons and 54 to 60 inches for home-decorating fabric, and a cloth for a 40 inch table with any real drop exceeds all of those. The tool divides the cloth width by the bolt width and rounds up to give the number of fabric widths, and the number of seams is one fewer.
Where the seams go matters more than how many there are. A single seam down the centre of a tablecloth is conspicuous, because it sits exactly where the eye lands and exactly where a centrepiece does not hide it. The traditional solution is a full-width centre panel with two narrower panels seamed on at each side, which uses the same total fabric but puts the seams off-centre where they read as intentional. If you take that approach, buy to the tool's total yardage and plan the cuts yourself.
Two further allowances are worth adding to what this page reports. Fabric with a printed or woven repeat needs extra length so the pattern matches across a seam, and the size of that extra depends entirely on the repeat. And most natural fibres shrink on their first wash, so cutting from unwashed fabric will produce a cloth smaller than the one you calculated. The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension textiles programme publishes independent guidance on fibre behaviour, selection and care that covers both.
Overlays, Runners and Layered Settings
A layered setting is two calculations, not one. The base cloth is sized to the drop you actually want at the floor or near it, and the overlay — a square or smaller cloth laid diagonally or straight on top — is sized to a much shorter drop, often 4 to 8 inches, so the base cloth shows beneath it. Run this tool twice with the same table and two different drops to get both figures.
Runners follow a different convention entirely, because they are sized along one axis only. A runner is normally the table length plus a drop at each end, in a width between about 12 and 16 inches, and it is not attempting to cover anything. The same is true of placemats, which are sized to a setting rather than to the table. Where you are working out how much of a surface something covers rather than how a cloth hangs, the area converter and square footage calculator are the more direct tools, and the rug size calculator applies the equivalent overhang logic to the floor beneath the table.
Arb Digital measures before it commits — the same discipline this page applies to a length of linen.
Browse All Free Tools Talk To Our TeamCommon Mistakes to Avoid
- Adding the drop once instead of twice — the single most common error. The cloth hangs over both sides, so every dimension gains twice the drop.
- Measuring with the leaves out — if the table extends for guests, size the cloth to the extended top or it will not cover on the day you need it.
- Choosing a floor-length drop for a dining table — anything much past 15 inches ends up in the laps of the people sitting at it.
- Assuming stock drops are equal — a rectangular stock cloth almost always drops further at the ends than at the sides, because its proportions do not match the table's.
- Cutting from unwashed fabric — natural fibres shrink on the first wash, so a cloth cut to the exact figure can end up short of it.
Related Free Tools From Arb Digital
Convert a cut list to yardage with the fabric yardage calculator, size window treatments with the curtain fabric calculator, plan patchwork with the quilt fabric calculator, size the floor covering under the table with the rug size calculator, switch between square inches and square metres with the area converter, or measure a room with the square footage calculator. The full free online tools hub lists every home and everyday calculator we publish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Add twice your chosen drop to each dimension of the tabletop. A 72 by 40 inch table with an 11 inch drop needs a cloth of 94 by 62 inches, and the smallest common stock size that covers that is 108 by 70 inches.
Six to eight inches reads casual, ten to twelve is the standard dining drop, and fifteen reads formal. Beyond about fifteen inches the cloth sits in a seated diner's lap, so longer drops suit buffet and display tables.
Add twice the drop to the diameter. A 48 inch round table with a 12 inch drop needs a 72 inch round cloth. The drop is uniform all the way round, which rectangular tables cannot manage with stock sizes.
One where the drop equals the table height, so the cloth reaches the floor. A standard 30 inch dining table therefore needs a 30 inch drop, which adds 60 inches to each dimension of the tabletop.
Divide the cloth width by the fabric bolt width and round up to get the number of widths, then multiply that by the cloth length plus a hem allowance at each end. A 94 by 62 inch cloth from a 54 inch bolt takes about 5.3 yards.
Not down the centre, where they are most visible. The usual approach is a full-width centre panel with narrower panels joined at each side, which uses the same fabric but places the seams where they read as deliberate.
Yes, if you intend to use the leaves. A cloth sized to the closed table will not cover the extended one, and there is no way to make up the difference once it is hemmed.
This page describes standard table linen conventions for general information only. Measure your own table and confirm dimensions with the retailer or fabric supplier before ordering, since stock sizes are nominal and finished pieces vary.
