How to Measure Your Cushion

Supplies Needed to Complete This Task

You will need a writing utensil, paper and a tape measure to measure the size of your cushion.


Ordering Your Foam

When ordering replacement foam cushions for your furniture, it is important that certain considerations be made when measuring, and adjusting measurements for best fit.

measure

You will want to refer to the Custom Cut Calculator on our site while measuring. Select the shape that is right for your cushion, and the diagram shown will indicate which measurements are needed to cut that specific shape.

Sketching your foam shape on a sheet of paper is also helpful, as you can record each dimension to its corresponding size. This will make adjusting them later a bit easier, especially when you have complex shapes like T-cushions or Trimmed Window Seats.

Measuring Your Cushion to Fit

measure

Start by removing the old foam from the cover, and spreading the cover out flat on the floor, or large table. Be sure to smooth out any wrinkles or bumps as best you can without stretching the fabric.

Referring to the diagram on the Custom Cut Calculator, measure each dimension of your cover from side to side. It is better to measure across the middle of the cover, instead of using the corners. The corners of your covers may have tighter stitching for added strength, and will likely result in measurements that are slightly too small.

Recording these dimensions on your sketch, double check each dimension to be sure that it has been measured correctly. Measure twice, cut once!

Adjusting Measurements

measure

Slightly increasing your measurements is suggested to ensure best fit. As foam is being inserted into the cover, both the foam and the Dacron (optional) should compress a bit, helping to fully fill out the cover. This helps keep the fabric taught over the foam, which creates both a better look and a better feel for your cushions!

Using your sketch of recorded dimensions, increase each dimension by 1/2". Thickness will require further adjustment. After you have increased your thickness by 1/2", if the thickness exceeds a whole inch by less than 1/2", round down to the nearest whole inch. If the thickness exceeds a whole inch by 1/2" or more, round up to the nearest whole inch.

Example: If our starting thickness is 5-3/4", we then increase it to 6-1/4", which then gets rounded to 6" thickness as a final dimension. If our cushion measures 4-1/4", we would increase it to 4-3/4", then round up to 5" thickness as the final dimension.

These adjusted measurements will be used to create your foam cushion.

Next: How to Cut the Foam for Your Cushion