The Upholstery Forum

As I start to try and get my name out there to get some jobs, I find my self wondering how you guys that have been doing this a while go about figuring out how much material you need to order for the project.

Take my boat for example. you can see pics in this thread......

viewtopic.php?t=4726

The colored sections were fairly small so 1 yard of black and 2 yds of the other colors seemed reasonable but when it came to the white, I was way off.

My initial order was for something like 12 yds which I thought should get me close but really didn't. After that, I think I doubled my second guesstimate which means I know have a bunch left over.

I know I need to better plan my layouts and cuts but how do you guys figure out how much material would needed without either ordering to much or having a ton of waste?

IS there some kind of formula or basic rule of thumb you follow or just order a ton and then leave the rest as inventory for later?

i just calculate it in my head. . I usually get pretty close without a lot of inventory left over.
you'll get better at it the more you do it.

I always take a yardstick and a sheer of vinyl that is a yard. Lay it over guess how much waste you will have and calcualte usage.

I go by 'piece' count and judge them as being 'small', 'medium', 'large', or 'X-large'. Then I have approximate yardage usage on each size of piece. Keep in mind that each seat or cushion can be made up of 2 or more 'pieces'. Adding up the yardage numbers usually gets me pretty close, then I double-check the estimate by eye-balling each piece to see if I would change anything based on its size. Sunpads can require more material that my approximations.

Once I have a number of yards for each vinyl (color, etc) then I'll add enough for overage (10 - 20%)

After you do a few boats, you will almost be able to tell just by looking at it.