The full womenswear workflow · nine stages · click through to read the neighbouring stages
1. This stage has three steps
- Spreading: lay the fabric ply by ply on the cutting table, typically 20–60 plies high (depending on fabric thickness and cutting equipment). Points to watch: even tension (too tight and the garment shrinks, too loose and the plies shift), selvage alignment, and checking every ply for pulled yarns and stains;
- Marker making (lay plan): in the CAD system every pattern piece is nested into the fabric width like a jigsaw, with the goal of maximising the fabric utilization rate. Womenswear markers usually reach 82%–90%; floral prints and stripes/checks drop to 75%–80% because the print and lines have to be matched;
- Cutting: an automatic cutter or straight knife follows the marker. Stripes and checks also demand matching — the lines must run continuously from piece to piece — so the cutter aligns them by hand.
2. Two variables buyers overlook most
- Put the utilization rate in the quote: ask the factory "how many metres does this style consume per unit", multiply by the fabric price, and you can sanity-check the fabric cost yourself. If consumption is clearly high, either the marker-making is poor or they have padded the allowance with excess waste;
- Shade lot and cut-piece matching: the cut pieces of one garment must all come from the same dye lot (shade lot). Cutting across dye lots is the number-one source of colour variation in bulk — a proper factory sorts into bundles by dye lot and hangs a bundle ticket (fly sticker) on every bundle.
3. Lead time and waste
Cutting 500–2,000 pieces usually takes 1–3 days. Fabric waste, as a rule of thumb: 3%–5% for plain solid styles, 8%–12% for stripes/checks with pattern matching, and a separate figure for single-panel prints depending on the pattern repeat. Once cutting is done, the cut pieces are counted, bundled by bundle, and passed on to sewing.
LIUYU's cutting-room rules: every marker is CAD-nested two ways and the better utilization rate wins; every roll is inspected before spreading and its defects are recorded, then nested around the marker; every bundle carries a fly sticker showing bundle number, dye lot and size — sewing and finishing are managed by bundle throughout, so any colour variation can be traced back to its dye lot.
One line to remember this stage: cutting is the one stage with no second chance. Get fabric inspection, marker making and dye-lot matching right, and bulk production is halfway to being safe.