digitizemypatternHow to make a seat cover pattern
A seat cover pattern is the set of flat panels that wrap a seat: cushion top, front band, side panels, back, plus whatever closes it. Two ways to get them: take an old cover apart and use its panels, or template a bare seat panel by panel with paper or plastic film. Either way you end up with flat shapes, and flat shapes photograph into cutting files.
Updated September 3, 2026 · digitizemypattern
Old cover or bare seat: which do you copy?
If the old cover exists, use it. Its panels already carry the shape, the seam positions and the shrink of years of use, and unpicking it costs an hour. Template the bare seat only when the cover is gone, rotted or was never right in the first place.
The old cover
Photograph the seat from every side before you touch it, then unpick seam by seam and label each panel as it comes off: top, band, left, right, back. A panel without a label is a puzzle a week later.
The bare seat
Tape paper or clear film over one section at a time, draw the seam lines onto it, cut it away and flatten it. Curved foam needs darts or several smaller panels, and this is where the fit is won or lost.
Mark before flattening
Notches across every seam, an arrow for the direction of the material, and the panel name in the middle. Drawn notches count the same as cut ones when the piece is photographed.
How do the panels become cutting files?
One photograph per panel. The panel goes on a surface of a different colour with a sheet of Letter paper beside it, the phone shoots straight down, and the outline comes back at true size with the notches marked. Correct anything that is off in the browser, then download.
Out of it come three files: a DXF on the AAMA and ASTM standard for CNC tables and CAD, an HPGL PLT for plotters, and a Letter-tiled PDF you print at home and tape together when the shop has no plotter.
Panels bigger than a table get photographed the same way, as long as the whole panel and the sheet of paper are in the frame together. What matters is that the panel lies flat, not how large it is.
What accuracy can you expect?
On our control photograph, 95 per cent of the traced points landed within 1 pixel of the paper edge and all six notches were found, six out of six; one pixel there is about 0.02 in. For a piece shot straight down in even light we quote about 0.06 in. Measured 3 September 2026 on the sample photograph published on this site.
For upholstery the bigger risk is the material, not the trace. Vinyl and heavy canvas do not ease the way woven cloth does, and a panel that fits on paper can fight you on foam. Cut one panel first and try it before cutting the set.
What still has to be decided by hand?
Seam allowance, pull-in over foam, welt and piping lengths, and the closure. None of that is on the old panel, and nothing here adds it silently: what lies on the table is what comes back in the file. Add allowance in your CAD or on the material, whichever way your shop already works.
Questions from upholstery shops
Can I copy a seat cover without taking it off?+
Not accurately. A cover on a seat is a curved surface, and a photograph of it has no flat shape to trace. Template it with film section by section, or take the old cover off and unpick it.
Will the file work on a CNC cutting table?+
Yes. The DXF is AAMA and ASTM with cut line, notches, grain and internal marks on separate layers, and the PLT is standard HPGL with clean pen-up and pen-down moves. Internal lines go to the second pen so a marker draws them instead of a knife cutting them.
What about boat seats and marine vinyl?+
Same method: panels flat, one photograph each, sheet of paper in frame. Vinyl panels curl at the edges after years on a seat, so press them under weights before shooting or the curl shows up in the outline.
How do I keep left and right panels apart?+
Write the name on the panel before photographing and keep the pieces face up. Each photograph becomes its own file, and the name you wrote is the only thing that tells a mirrored pair apart later.
Do you draw the welt and the closure for me?+
No. We return the shape of what you photographed. Welt strips, zip plackets and pull-in are decisions about the build, and they stay with the person doing the job.
Is there a limit on panel size?+
The limit is the photograph, not the file: the whole panel and the sheet of paper have to be in frame together, flat and evenly lit. Shooting from further away costs some resolution, so for very large panels expect to correct a few more points by hand.
Keep reading
Panels off the seat, files on the table.
Free while the demo runs. One photograph per panel.