I don't think 3 yards is quite enough but 6 yards seems to be way too much - how wide is the fabric? 45" or 54"

It's 54". I was thinking maybe the difference was which way they were running the stripes but before I asked them I realized I wasn't sure which way they "should" go. Front to back seems "right" to me, I think.... wish I had the skills to make them myself, but the piping & zipper is scaring me off!

The 6 yd # came from Calico Corners. Since they do a lot of work for "high-end" customers I was wondering if it was their standard practice to pad their profit margins by being a bit overzealous on the yardage requirements - lots of their fabric is in the $40-60 range (my remenant is only $4/yd). The 3 yd est. (he actually said 3 1/2) was from a mom & pop type place that will charge me 1/2 what CC wants for labor - admittedly doesn't include CC's nice muslin liner.

The stripes go the way you want them to since the fabric is big enough either way. Piping will eat up some yardage for sure, make sure the 3 yd quote included it.

I'd run the stripes front to back if it were my project. It could be the higher estimate was matching the stripes so that all the cushions looked alike? There is some waste when you do that.

Take the cushion to the store and lay it out on the fabric. Allow fabric to wrap around seat and enough material to staple. You should be able to see how much fab is needed. If you have leftovers you can make coasters!!

Thanks everyone - really appreciate all the insight! I'm going with stripes front to back. And split the difference on the yardage, giving the lower estimate the job but 4.5 yards to play with. I think the higher estimate does go to extreme lengths to make everything perfectly matchy-matchy.

When the stripes don't match top to bottom and boxing strip, and cushion to cushion, they can look pretty bad. You really do get what you pay for!