Fabric layout basics

Most savings come from a few habits, applied before the scissors come out.

1. Lay out the longest pieces first. Long pieces fix the length of the layout, and small pieces fill the gaps beside them. The planner's auto-arrange sorts this way among its strategies.
2. Group pieces that add up to the usable width. Two 21 in pieces on 43 in usable leave 1 in spare. Two 22 in pieces don't fit side by side, so trimming 1 in can save a whole row.
3. Mark pieces that don't need grain. Facings in some stable fabrics, interfacing and felt can often turn 90°, which gives the layout more options. Only do this when the pattern allows it.
4. Mind nap and repeats early. With-nap layouts and repeat matching need more fabric. Decide before buying, not at the cutting table. See nap.
5. Gaps: rectangles can share a cut line, so a gap of 0 is fine for rotary cutting along a ruler. Leave a small gap if you trace around templates and cut with scissors.
6. Check before you cut. Measure the real usable width after pre-washing, mark out the plan with chalk, and measure the used length again.

Pattern repeats

A vertical repeat is the distance after which a print starts over. With "Start every piece on a pattern-repeat line", the planner rounds each piece's length (plus gap) up to whole repeats, so every piece starts at the same point in the print. It then adds one extra repeat to the purchase so you can line up the first motif.

Worked example: a 64 cm repeat with 50 cm pieces, two across. The rows start at 0 and 64 cm, so the used length is 64 + 50 = 114 cm and the purchase is 114 + 64 = 178 cm, which rounds up to 1.80 m. This aligns the repeat along the length only. It doesn't match the print sideways across seams, which still needs hand placement.

Try it

In the planner, toggle nap, rotation and repeat alignment and watch the used length change. Undo restores any manual arrangement.