How Much Fabric for Cushions & Pillows?
A standard 18" × 18" cushion cover needs about 0.5–0.75 yards of 54-inch fabric. Boxed cushions with depth and piping need more.
Quick Yardage Reference
| Cushion Size | 54" Fabric | With Piping |
|---|---|---|
| 14" × 14" | 0.5 yd | 0.5 yd |
| 16" × 16" | 0.5 yd | 0.75 yd |
| 18" × 18" | 0.5–0.75 yd | 0.75–1 yd |
| 20" × 20" | 0.75 yd | 1 yd |
| 24" × 24" | 1 yd | 1.25 yd |
| 18" × 18" × 3" boxed | 0.75 yd | 1 yd |
| 48" × 18" × 3" bench | 1.5 yd | 1.75 yd |
For exact yardage with your dimensions, run the numbers in the pillow fabric planner.
What Goes Into Cushion Yardage
Top and bottom panels
Every cushion has at least two panels — the top (face) and the bottom (back). For an envelope-back closure, the bottom is cut wider and overlapped. For a zippered closure, the bottom panel is split and seamed around the zipper.
Boxing strip
A boxed cushion has a strip of fabric between the top and bottom panels that gives the cushion its depth. This strip goes around the full perimeter of the cushion. For an 18" × 18" × 3" cushion, that is 72 inches of 3-inch-wide strip plus seam allowances.
Piping / welting
Piping is the cord-covered seam between panels. It is cut on the bias (at 45 degrees to the grain) from 1.5-inch strips. Bias cutting uses more fabric than straight cutting. For a single cushion, piping adds about 0.15–0.25 yards.
Pattern repeat
If your fabric has a pattern, you need to centre the motif on each cushion and match across a set. This can add 20–35% extra fabric, especially for large repeats. The pillow yardage tool factors in pattern repeat automatically.
Making Multiple Cushions
Yardage does not scale linearly when making multiple cushions from the same fabric. You can often fit multiple panels side by side on a single width of fabric, which is more efficient than calculating per-cushion and multiplying.
As a rough guide: 4 standard 18-inch cushions from 54-inch fabric need about 2.5–3 yards total, not 4 × 0.75 = 3 yards. The savings come from nesting the cuts.
If cushions are only one piece of a larger plan, our homepage calculator can size the whole room in one go.