Fabric is the biggest single line on most costing sheets, and it is usually estimated by
habit: “a kurta takes two and a half metres.” That figure is only true for one
fabric, one width and one cutting plan. Change the roll and it is wrong, and nothing on the
cost sheet says so.
The sum, in three steps
- How many garments fit across the usable width. Whole garments only.
- The length of fabric that row of garments uses — the longest piece
plus the extra length for sleeves, collars and facings.
- Divide by the number across, then add wastage.
In one line: (longest piece + extras) ÷ garments across the width, plus wastage.
A worked example
These figures are made up to show the sum. They are not a benchmark and not a claim about any
garment or any fabric. They are the values the
fabric consumption calculator opens with, so you can check every
line there.
- Usable fabric width: 112 cm
- Widest point of the garment laid flat: 55 cm
- Longest piece, shoulder to hem: 110 cm, plus 60 cm for sleeves, collar and facings
- Wastage: 8%
- Fabric price: ₹250 a metre; an order of 50 garments
Across the width: 112 ÷ 55 = 2.04, so two garments fit. They use
110 + 60 = 170 cm of fabric between them, so each takes 85 cm. Add 8% wastage and it is
91.8 cm: 0.918 m a garment.
At ₹250 a metre that is ₹229.50 a garment. An order of 50 needs
45.9 m and a fabric bill of ₹11,475.
The width on the label is not the width you can cut
The calculator asks for the usable width: the full width minus the selvedges you
cannot cut into. The width printed on a label is often the full one. Measure it on the roll
you have been sent.
This matters more than it sounds, because the number across is a whole number. Two garments
of 55 cm need 110 cm. Only the usable width changes:
- 112 cm usable: two across, 0.918 m a garment, ₹11,475 for 50.
- 110 cm usable: still exactly two across.
- 109 cm usable: one across. Each garment now takes the full
170 cm plus wastage, 1.836 m, ₹459.00 a garment, 91.8 m and
₹22,950 for the order.
Three centimetres of width, and the answer doubled. That is what this simple model does, and
it is worth being clear about its limits: it lays whole garments side by side and counts the
leftover strip as wastage. A real marker nests pieces and may win some of that back. But the
lesson holds either way — the usable width is the input that can move the result most,
so it is the one to measure with a tape, not read off a label.
Measure it on the roll in front of you
Unroll a metre,
lay a tape across it from selvedge to selvedge, and subtract the strip you
cannot cut. Do it again on the next lot. Widths vary between lots of the same fabric.
What the other inputs do
- Wastage. Going from 8% to 12% takes the fabric per garment from 0.918 m
to 0.952 m — ₹8.50 more a garment, ₹425 more on an order of 50.
- Price. ₹250 to ₹280 a metre adds ₹27.54 to each garment,
₹1,377 over 50.
- Shrinkage. The sum does not include it. If you pre-wash, add the
shrinkage to the wastage figure, or you will order short.
Nothing here is exotic. It is simply that fabric is bought by the metre and the cost
accumulates in small steps, each of which looks too small to check.
What the sum leaves out
- Mixed sizes in one marker. This is a straight, single-size lay. Putting
several sizes in one marker uses less.
- Prints and stripes. Pieces that must be matched use more.
- Anything cut on the cross, or panelled. It will not follow a single
length down the roll.
- The leftover strip. It is counted as wastage, not carried to the next
garment.
Put your own figures into the calculator. The wastage figure is the
one worth working to reduce, and
the cutting wastage article shows how to
measure your own. The fabric line then feeds the cost sheet in
the mark-up and margin article, where
it was about 66% of the direct cost in the example.