Sofas are such wonderful furniture items. They are giant marshmallows that ooze comfort and warmth. Yet, even the best sofa may start to look tired and need a facelift, which is where reupholstering your sofa cushions come in.
Perhaps you inherited a great sofa, but the cushions don’t match your current color scheme? Maybe your current sofa doesn’t match the new changes in your decor scheme? Was the couch damaged and do you need to replace the cushions? Making a new sofa cushion or having cushion covers made is a great way to tie this essential furniture item to your current style.
The challenge is in measuring the existing sofa cushions and determining how much fabric to order for your reupholstery or slipcover project. Luckily, you can learn all about how to measure a couch cushion here.
Measuring a Sofa Cushion in 3 Different Ways
There are numerous ways to measure your sofa cushions. Whichever way you measure, you should get an accurate measurement to help you determine how many yards of fabric to order without wasting or falling short.
Method 1: Point and Click Apps
Technology is amazing. Today, you can simply scan in a barcode and get a whole restaurant menu on your phone along with the ability to order online. The same thing is happening with fabric or furniture measuring problems.
With the right technology at your fingertips, you can literally point your mobile device’s camera at the sofa cushion. The app will determine the dimensions of a sofa or chair by using scale and distance from the photographer. This allows you to get an accurate reading at the click of a button.
Method 2: Yardage Calculator
What about if you don’t have the means to measure your furniture item with you, but you need to order today? What now? Simple, you use a yardage calculator.
The Kovi Fabric yardage calculator has every possible chair or sofa combination on it. All you need to do is to choose a picture on the yardage calculator that’s similar to the sofa cushions you want to upholster. When you click on an image, the image enlarges and it indicates how many yards you need.
So if you want to create slipcovers for your turn-of-the-century sofa, you would look for a sofa example from the yardage calculator that is very close in appearance to your real sofa.
Method 3: Measure Your Sofa Cushions to Determine the Sofa Cushion Dimensions
If your sofa or sofa cushions are different from the images in the yardage calculator, then you need exact measurements to know how many yards of fabric to order.
To measure your sofa cushions you would follow these rules:
1. Spread the Cushion Fabric
If the sofa has been well used, and the fabric and stuffing of the sofa cushions are looking tired and worn, you need to be careful of where your measurement will be taken.
To start, spread out any wrinkles or creases or air pockets to create an even surface to measure across. If the seat cushion has a rounded or wrinkled middle, then it will affect your measurement. Try to flatten the surface and any obstacles that may prevent you from measuring accurately.
2. Measure the Length and Width
Using the flexible measuring tape, measure from the middle of the front edge to the middle of the back edge of the sofa cushion. Record this measurement in inches. This is your cushion length.
Next, measure from the middle of the right side to the middle of the left side. Be sure to write down the measurement in inches. Mark it as the width.
3. Measure the Depth of the Sofa Cushion
This measurement can be somewhat tricky. Consider the sofa cushion. If it’s well-worn, then you can’t measure the depth in the middle of the cushion. Instead, find a corner that’s not too badly dented. Measure from the top of the cushion to the bottom. Record the measurement in inches as your depth.
If your sofa cushion has piping or other detailed edges that may make measurements complicated, then measure between the piping from the top to the bottom of the cushion. Remember that you may want to add some extra padding to fill out a worn-out cushion, so add at least an inch to the depth measurement.
4. Circumference Measurement
You will also want to have the measurement around the outside of the cushion to help you determine just how much fabric to buy. Place your measuring tape against one of the cushion corners.
It may help to pin it there with a safety pin. Measure the distance to the next corner and pin the tape down in that corner too. Continue measuring and pinning up to each corner until your measuring tape is wrapped around the whole circumference of the sofa cushion.
Write down the measurement in inches and add an additional inch for a straight boxed cushion. If you want to make a cushion that has pleated corners, be sure to add an ich extra per corner.
Bonus Method to Measure Your Sofa Cushion
If you want, you can also strip off the existing sofa cushion cover. Often, these covers have a zip just for this purpose to help you remove the cushion covers for washing purposes.
Once the cushion stuffing has been removed, you will be able to take flat measurements of the top and bottom panels as well as the depth panel. Be sure to still add in an extra inch to the depth to accommodate extra padding.
Conclusion
Knowing how to measure your sofa cushions for reupholstery can help you plan your budget as you’ll know how many yards of fabric to order. It is also a vital skill if you are going to be making your own sofa cushion covers. Whatever your reasons for measuring your sofa cushions, be sure to work with accuracy and follow one of the methods listed here. Happy measuring!