Remnants and cut pieces

A remnant has long meant any piece of fabric, from a small scrap to quite a large length.

A cut piece is one with a known length and width, usually from one to several metres. It is enough for one whole thing: a skirt, trousers, a dress, a jacket, a coat or an armchair cover.

In an ordinary shop fabric is measured off the roll as needed, and tomorrow you can buy more. A cut piece is different: there is this piece, this size, and no second one like it.

So a piece is chosen for a particular garment: the idea and the size first, then the fabric. In return the garment really is one of a kind.

One garment nobody else will have: a coat, a suit, a dress, a skirt.

Furniture and home: chair and armchair upholstery, cushions, throws.

Historical and stage costumes, when a special fabric is needed just once. Designers come too: one picked about a hundred different fabrics for a show, as every garment in the collection was made only once.

And several different pieces can make a patchwork quilt or cushions.

First work out how much fabric your garment needs: we have articles on coats, dresses, trousers, skirts, jackets and shirts.

Compare the width as well as the length: it decides whether the pieces fit side by side. Every piece states its size on its page.

If the content is unknown, check it: how to do that is in the article «How to tell wool from synthetics».