We have seen fabric layouts on the pattern instruction sheets but why would we choose one over the other? I have put together a list of advantages and disadvantages to help you select the best fabric layout for your next sewing project.

Double Fabric Layout – fabric is folded in half, right sides together          

Advantages

• Generally takes up the least amount of room on the cutting board / table
• Cutting time reduced, fewer pattern pieces to cut out
• Quick for cutting out plain fabrics 

Disadvantages 

• Can sometimes take more fabric to cut the pattern pieces out
• Unable to precisely match up pattern pieces with the fabric print / stripe
• Pattern Pieces placed on fabric fold can lead to cutting inaccuracy

Single Fabric Layout – single layer of fabric with right side facing up

Advantages

• Generally takes up less fabric to cut the pattern pieces out
• Able to precisely match up pattern pieces with the fabric print / stripe
• Cut two garments at the one time by placing another single fabric layer on top of the first layer 

Disadvantages

• Takes up more space on the cutting board / table
• Requires full pattern pieces
• Takes more time to cut, some pattern pieces will need to be flipped over to obtain a matching pair,  i.e. sleeves

I find a combination of both works well, in the above photo, I used single fabric layouts for the stripe and border knit prints and a double fabric layout was used for cutting out the plain black sleeves, side front and side back