Calculating Fabric Needed for Recovering Patio Cushions
The sun is finally shining and we can pull out our patio furniture! You might want an update or to add some color to your outdoor space. Create an easy update by recovering your patio cushions. Calculating the amount of fabric you need can be a daunting task but all it takes is some measurements and a little planning.
Steps
To begin you will need to measure 3 main areas of the cushion.
- A- Length
- B- Width
- C- Depth
For example, we have measured our cushion as
- A: 23″
- B: 23″
- C: 3 1/2″
Measure the cushions from edge to edge and add 1″ for seam allowance. The length and width will give you the measurement for the seat of the cushion, you will need 2 of these. The length and the depth will give the measurements for 1 side panel, you will need 2 of these. The width and depth will give the measurements for the other side panel, you will need 2 of these.
The first step in calculating how much fabric you will need is to figure out how wide the fabric is you are purchasing.
For this example our fabric is 55″ wide
It is helpful to sketch the layout of your pattern pieces on the width of your fabric.
Our fabric is laid out the full width. We are able to fit our 2 cushion seat pieces across the selvedge.
To maintain the grainline of our panel piece we have placed them below the cushion cover pieces.
This shows us our final length is 33″. So we will need at least 0.9m of fabric per cushion. We would recommend getting 1m of fabric to account for any shrinkage.
