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The Cutting Table · a common question

How do I choose my fabric color when ordering? Is a color name enough?

Also asked as:Where's the fabric chart?Is writing the color name enough?

“Green” is a family, my friends, not a color. The chart gives every member of that family its own number.

Answered by

The Colorist of New Orleans · · Updated

The quick answer

A color name isn't enough to order a custom cushion: write the exact fabric code from the charts in the listing photos, because each color comes in several shades and the shop holds the order until it has a code. On the bench cushion listing the charts are the 3rd, 4th and 5th photos. For a color seen in a listing photo, say so in the order notes.

Navy and white wide-stripe cushion on an oak box window seat with books, a mug and a plant on the sillSave
Navy stripes on a wall-to-wall oak window seat, with books and a mug marking the reading end.

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Key facts

  • Fabric charts are in the listing photos; on the bench cushion listing they are the 3rd, 4th and 5th photos.
  • Indoor and outdoor listings have separate charts.
  • Orders need an exact fabric code, not a color name.
  • The shop holds the order until it has a code.
  • A color from a listing photo can be requested in the order notes.
  • The green in the window-seat main photo is Khaki.
  • Fabric can be switched after ordering if production hasn't started.
  • Each main indoor chart (linen, velvet, soft fabric) runs to about 40 colors.
  • Swatches of the codes you shortlist are about 4 x 4 to 6 x 6 in (10 x 10 to 15 x 15 cm).
  • Piping takes its own code from any chart; roughly 50% of orders choose matching piping and 50% contrast.

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Have Élodie’s workshop cut this for you

A fabric reads one way at noon and another at dusk. Mention your light, and the workshop will weigh it with you. — Élodie

Leave your details and the workshop will call you to confirm measurements, fabric, foam and piping. No prices, dates or payment on this page: it is a request, not an order.

Fabric · Foam · Pipingwhat the workshop will confirm with you

Fabric
Each main indoor chart (linen, velvet, soft fabric) runs to about 40 colors.
Foam
The core: its density and thickness set the feel.
Piping
The corded seam edge: matching, contrast or none.
Only for this request: no marketing calls or texts. Outside the US, add the country code.
In inches: length × depth × thickness, plus any angles or cut corners.

* Required. A member of the workshop team will call you to talk it through; nothing is charged and nothing is made until you have agreed on every detail with them.

We use these details only to answer this request and make your cushion: your name and contact details, the cushion details and photos you send, the page you came from and the ad or link that brought you, if any. The workshop that makes the cushions receives them. We don't sell them or share them for advertising, and we delete requests after 24 months. Privacy notice for requests.

Nothing is made or charged until you approve the details.

Want to pick the shape and add photos? Use the full quote form

From a photo you love to a code on the order

  1. Open the charts

    They sit in the listing photos: the 3rd, 4th and 5th on the bench cushion listing. Outdoor listings carry their own chart.

  2. Read the prefix

    The prefix before the shade names the fabric family, so a linen and a velvet in the same green can't be confused.

  3. Copy the code into the note

    The exact code, not 'sage' or 'navy'. Without it, the order waits.

  4. Check the fabric in the photo

    A cushion that looks like velvet may be linen. Want the photo color? Say so in the order notes.

Why a color name is only a neighborhood

Say 'navy' to ten people and you get ten blues: ink, Prussian, a washed denim that has seen summer. Each color on the charts comes in several shades, and a name only tells the workshop which street you live on, not which house. The code is the house number.

Let one color speak and the others listen, then write that one down exactly. The personalization note Pattern shows where the code goes, the swatch Pattern helps when two shades are close, and finished pieces live in bench cushions and window seat cushions. Which photo made you fall for the color?

A real project

The velvet that turned out to be linen

A buyer in the US wrote to the workshop about a floor cushion that looked like velvet in the photos, while the description said linen. It was linen. The same design can be made in velvet, and the buyer switched the order to velvet color 03 the day after buying, before production began.

The green window seat cushion in the main listing photo is the chart color Khaki; write Khaki, or 'green like the listing picture', in the order note.

Élodie
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Buyer questions

  1. A common question

    Where are the fabric charts, and can I just write a color name?

    The workshop's answer

    The charts are in the listing photos, the 3rd, 4th and 5th on the bench cushion listing, with separate charts on indoor and outdoor listings. Write the exact code rather than a name, because each color has several shades; the shop holds the order until it has the code.

  2. A common question

    Can I get a window seat cushion in the green from the main photo if I can't find it on the chart?

    The workshop's answer

    Yes. Choose Khaki, or write 'green like the listing picture' in the notes, and you receive the color in the photo. An interior designer's client ordered it that way.

  3. A common question

    How do I tell which fabric a color code belongs to?

    The workshop's answer

    The prefix names the fabric: L is linen, K is acrylic-linen, N is cotton stripes, the 100s are velvet, the 900s are soft fabric, COR is corduroy, M and T are outdoor, DRM is duck canvas and 0- is bouclé. Two palettes of one fabric are identical.

Questions buyers ask next

Can I change my fabric after I've paid for the cushion?

Yes, as long as production hasn't started. Message the new fabric code and the order is updated; one buyer moved from linen to velvet the day after buying.

Are the indoor and outdoor fabric charts the same?

No. Indoor and outdoor listings carry separate charts, so take the code from the chart on the listing you're ordering from. The outdoor range is the one to use anywhere a cushion may get wet.

Does leaving out the fabric code slow the order down?

Yes. The shop holds the order until it has an exact code, so production can't start on a color name alone. Put the code in the note at checkout and nothing waits.