Before you cut, you need to know how much fabric each order will use and whether the roll store can cover it. A guess either leaves you short in the middle of the order or ties up money in fabric you did not need. This free Excel sheet works it out from your marker data, order by order, and then compares the total need of each fabric with your stock.
The sheet and its page are in Arabic: fabric requirements and marker sheet. All free sheets are listed at /templates (in Arabic). If your problem is the fabric that ends up on the floor after cutting, read fabric waste in garment cutting first; this sheet is about planning the need, not tracing the waste.
What is inside the sheet
- Start here: how to use it and the colour key.
- Markers: for each model, its fabric, the marker length, the number of pieces in it, end losses (cm), other losses (%), fabric width (cm) and weight (GSM). The sheet gives the metres per piece, the weight of a metre and the kilos per piece.
- Orders: order number, the model (from a list), quantity and reject %. The sheet shows the fabric, the pieces needed, the plies, the pieces that will be cut, and the metres and kilos required.
- Stock and shortages: each fabric with its stock in metres or kilos, the total required by all orders, the shortage and a status.
- Why still on Excel?: when a sheet stops being enough.
A worked example (sample data)
These are the sample numbers in the sheet, not a real factory.
The polo shirt marker: 6.5 m long, 5 pieces, 4 cm lost at the ends, 2% other losses, 180 cm wide, 180 GSM. The length used is 6.5 + 0.04 = 6.54 m. Per piece that is 6.54 / 5 x 1.02 = about 1.334 m. A metre of this fabric weighs 1.8 x 180 / 1000 = 0.324 kg, so a piece takes about 0.432 kg.
Order ق-101, 1,000 polo shirts, 3% rejects:
- Pieces needed: 1,000 / 0.97, rounded up, gives 1,031.
- Plies: 1,031 / 5, rounded up, gives 207, which cuts 1,035 pieces.
- Fabric: 207 x 6.54 x 1.02 = about 1,380.9 m, or about 447.4 kg.
Order ق-102 (400 polo shirts, 2% rejects) needs 82 plies and about 547.0 m. Together the two orders need about 1,927.9 m of cotton jersey against a stock of 1,800 m, so the sheet shows a shortage of about 127.9 m and marks the fabric "short" in red.
The other two fabrics pass. The melange lycra leggings order (600 pieces, 4% rejects) needs about 837.5 m, or 294.8 kg, against 400 kg in stock, so it is enough. The men's trousers in gabardine need about 748.5 m against 800 m, also enough. The trousers marker has no width or weight, so no kilo figure is shown for it, which is what the sheet is designed to do.
Why these features matter
- The marker is entered once. Every later order for that model just picks the model from a list.
- Rounding is done for you. Whole plies and whole pieces are the reality of cutting; the sheet shows what you will really cut, not a tidy fraction.
- Shortage by fabric. Needs from all orders are added up per fabric, so you buy once instead of discovering the gap order by order.
- Metres or kilos. It follows the way you buy the fabric.
- Free, no sign-up, and compatible with Excel 2016 and later, Google Sheets and LibreOffice.
Using the online version
The template page opens directly on the worked example above. You edit the white (input) cells right in the page and the grey calculated cells update immediately. You can import your own .xlsx file made from this template, export your work to .xlsx, or download the original Excel file. Your data stays in your browser and is not sent to the server.
A good first run: enter your most-cut model's real marker, then its next order, and compare the result with what your cutting room would have asked for.
Common mistakes
- Writing percentages as fractions. Write 3 for 3%.
- Repeating a model name in the markers sheet.
- Fabric names in stock that differ from the names in the markers sheet.
- Putting kilos in stock for a fabric you measure in metres, or the reverse.
When a sheet stops being enough: it only counts the orders you type in, and the stock is typed by hand. If you want planned production orders broken down into their components with shortages calculated against stock automatically, and quotes requested from several suppliers side by side, that is what the material requirements planning in MESwiro does.
Next step
Take your next cutting order, enter its marker as it really is, and check the metres against what the cutting room says it will use. A difference between the two is worth a conversation.