Craft Materials and Costs
The calculators answer how much a project needs. This section answers the two questions that come straight after it: what do I actually buy, and what will that cost. Work down the page to find the materials that belong to your craft, the calculators that turn a shopping list into a figure, the guides that explain the trade-offs, and the terms suppliers use on their listings.
Materials by craft
What you buy for a candle and what you buy for a bookshelf have nothing in common, so start with the craft you work in.
Crochet & Knitting
Yarn quantity, gauge, hook and needle sizes, and the cost of a project. Start with the yarn calculator to find out how many skeins you actually need.
13 calculators →
Sewing
Fabric yardage, seam allowances, curtain and quilt quantities, thread estimates and garment sizing, in both metric and imperial.
11 calculators →
Woodworking
Board feet, lumber volume, plywood sheets, cut lists and shelf spacing. Board feet is the measurement lumber is priced in, so start there.
11 calculators →
Jewelry Making
Bead counts, bracelet and necklace lengths, ring size conversion, wire length and pricing for handmade jewellery.
10 calculators →
Candle Making
Wax quantity, fragrance load, jar fill, batch scaling and candle pricing. Work out the wax for a whole batch before you melt anything.
10 calculators →
Soap Making
Mould volume, batch scaling, ingredient and packaging costs, and soap pricing. Planning tools only: always verify a formulation with a reliable lye calculator.
8 calculators →
Resin & Epoxy
Resin volume for rectangular, circular and cylindrical moulds, the mixing ratio, coating coverage and the cost of a pour.
10 calculators →
Paper Crafts
Paper sizes and weights, card and envelope dimensions, print margins, invitation layouts and paper cost per sheet.
10 calculators →
Leather Craft
Leather area and cost, belt and strap lengths, thickness conversion, stitch spacing and thread length for hand sewing.
10 calculators →
Handmade Business
Pricing, cost, profit, wholesale, break-even and marketplace fees. The tools to answer what should I charge and what will I actually keep.
13 calculators →
Home DIY Crafts
Paint quantity, wall area, tile counts, curtain drop and picture hanging heights for craft projects that end up on a wall or a floor.
11 calculators →
Painting & Art
Canvas and surface area, paint coverage, medium mixing ratios, frame sizes and the cost of a piece.
11 calculators →
Pottery & Clay
Clay weight for a form, shrinkage allowance, glaze quantity, kiln load planning and the cost of a firing batch.
11 calculators →
Floral & Decoration
Stem counts for arrangements, garland and arch quantities, vase proportions and the cost of a floral project.
11 calculators →
General Crafting
Measurement conversion, material quantities, project planning, time estimates and cost breakdowns that apply to any craft.
11 calculators →
Cost and quantity calculators
Put your own prices and quantities in and these work out what a project costs, how much material it really takes, and what to charge for the finished piece.
Arch Flower Calculator
Stem counts and cost for a floral arch or a moongate, from a light trim to a full asymmetric design.
Open calculator →
Artwork Pricing Calculator
Price an original painting by area, medium and reputation, with the gallery commission shown honestly.
Open calculator →
Artwork Shipping Cost Calculator
The packed size, volumetric weight and shipping tier for a framed or unframed artwork, with the packing allowance.
Open calculator →
Bead Calculator
Work out how many beads fill a strand length, how many beads fit in an inch, and how many strands a pack of beads will make.
Open calculator →
Bead Pattern Calculator
Work out how many beads of each colour a repeating pattern needs for a given number of repeats, plus the total bead count and the thread length.
Open calculator →
Belt Length Calculator
Work out the strap length to cut for a belt, from the waist measurement, the buckle and the tip you want.
Open calculator →
Blanket Yarn Calculator
Yarn estimates for bed and throw blankets by size, with the standard blanket dimensions already filled in.
Open calculator →
Board Feet Calculator
Board feet from nominal dimensions, with a running total, and the dressed size the board actually measures.
Open calculator →
Bouquet Size Calculator
The finished width and stem count of a hand tied bouquet for a given vase, style and budget.
Open calculator →
Guides
Written explanations of what materials cost, how they behave and where the money goes on a finished piece.
How to Calculate the Amount of Yarn You Need
You are about to start a project and the pattern says "6 skeins of worsted weight." Or worse, you are designing something yourself and there is no pattern at all. You want to buy once, not make three...
Read the guide →
How Much Fabric Do You Need for Your Sewing Project?
You can work out your fabric requirement in about 15-30 minutes with a tape measure, your pattern, and a bit of arithmetic. By the end of this guide you will know how to read a pattern envelope, measu...
Read the guide →
20 Creative Handcraft Ideas Using Materials You Already Have
The jar of screws tipped over on the kitchen table and I just sat there, watching them roll toward the edge. I had been trying to build a spice rack out of a broken bookshelf for two hours. Nothing fi...
Read the guide →
How to Avoid Wasting Materials When Making Crafts
Most craft waste is not caused by clumsy hands. It is caused by decisions made before you pick up a tool: buying too much, cutting before measuring, or starting a project with no plan for the offcuts....
Read the guide →
How to Store Handcraft Materials Without Creating Clutter
Most craft clutter is not a storage problem. It is a decision problem. You keep things because you have not decided whether they are current, useful, or finished with, so nothing has a home and everyt...
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How to Choose the Right Materials for Your Handcraft Project
Picking materials is where most beginner projects are won or lost. Choose well and the making feels easy; choose badly and you fight the supplies the whole way. By the end of this guide you will know...
Read the guide →
Craft terms explained
Supplier listings and patterns are full of shorthand. These are the terms worth knowing before you order, each with a plain-English definition.
About material prices. This site does not invent prices. Nothing here quotes a cost per metre, per skein or per board as if it were a fact, because prices move with the season, the supplier, the quantity you buy and where you live. Where a figure appears it is one you entered yourself, from your own supplier, and the calculator only does the arithmetic on it. Check your own supplier before you order, take the current price rather than a remembered one, and treat any number you read here as a worked example rather than a quote.