[mpm32]

Ok, so vinyl stretches more in one direction than the other.

How do you decide which way to put the stretch?

In a seat top do you put the stretch front to back?

What about the sides on a box cushion? Does the stretch go top to bottom?

On a 54" roll of vinyl which way does the stretch run usually? Across the roll or does the stretch run the length of the roll?

I'm trying to figure out the yardage for my boat project and I imagine I should take this into account when calculating the yardage I need to order.

[DanTwoLakes]

Yes, vinyl stretches, but so do most fabrics. Vinyl doesn't stretch so significantly that you need to take it into account when calculating yardage. There are a few 4 way stretch vinyls that would require some thought, but those are specialty products that have specific uses, and probably not your choice for your project.

There is no one answer to your questions, some vinyl stretches more down the roll and some stretches more across the roll. The only consideration here is to keep the stretch going the same way on all the parts by orienting them all the same way when you lay them out to cut them. For example, when you lay out fabric for a piece of furniture, the parts get oriented so that the nap of the fabric or any pattern on the fabric all goes one way. This means that if there are three cushions, there is a definite top, bottom, left, and right that should be the same for all three cushions. This would mean that the cushion boxings, the front of the seat, the inside back, the inside arms, the outside arms, and the outside back all should have the nap or any definite pattern oriented the same way. You should do the same thing when working with vinyl,......if the top to one seat cushion goes down the roll left to right, all the cushion tops should be oriented that way even though with vinyl you could turn the parts differently and not have it be noticeable. This would then follow through with the cushion boxings, just like if they were fabric instead of vinyl. About the only time you would take stretch into account is if you were making a cushion that was over four feet long. In that case you might want to shorten the cushion tops a half inch to compensate for the stretch. The only way to know what's going to happen with the vinyl you are using is to do a test cushion.

As a rule of thumb, you generally lay out cushions so the longest parts, which would be the cushion boxings, can still be cut out of one piece of vinyl to reduce the number of splices. That means that the boxings should be oriented so they run down the roll not across the roll where you would be limited to 54" long pieces.

[mpm32]

Excellent, thanks Dan!