1. Before you begin
Gather the rectangular cut requirements for each project fabric. Measure any physical pieces you want to use. QuiltClarity does not need the quilt design itself and does not interpret pattern prose, PDFs, or images.
2. Project and units
Project name
What it means: an optional local label for the plan. What to enter: any name useful in print. It never enters analytics.
Measurements
Choose Inches and yards or Centimetres and metres before entering values. The calculation converts to exact internal millimetres; switching units converts existing numeric controls.
Seam allowance
The default is ¼ inch. It is added on every edge only when a requirement uses Finished size.
3. Fabrics
Add each distinct fabric once and give it a practical name such as Background or Blue print. Every cut and stock piece retains this fabric identity; pieces never move between fabrics.
4. Nominal vs usable WOF
Nominal width is the descriptive bolt width before selvages.Usable WOF is the crosswise width actually available for cuts after the selvages you plan to remove. Packing uses usable WOF. The imperial default is 40 inches, but your measured or pattern-specific value is authoritative.
Common mistake: entering 42 inches because the bolt says 42 even though only 40 inches will be cut.
5. Directional fabric and rotation
Turn on Directional fabric when a motif or grain direction must remain aligned. Rotation swaps a piece's width and height only when the fabric default, piece override, orientation, and WOF-strip rules all allow it. A piece-level “Do not allow” setting wins.
6. Purchase safety and rounding
Safety adds a percentage to newly purchased raw bolt length. The default is 5%. Purchase increment then rounds that buffered amount upward—never nearest or down. Safety does not enlarge stock you already own, and a stock-covered project remains a zero purchase.
Example: 10 inches raw with 5% safety becomes 10.5 inches, then rounds upward to the selected shop increment.
7. Fabric you already have
Enter only physical fabric pieces available to this project. Width is across the fabric; length is lengthwise. Each quantity expands into separate identifiable bins. QuiltClarity proves fit geometrically instead of subtracting areas or yardage totals.
8. Stock presets and custom dimensions
Fat quarter, fat eighth, quarter-yard, half-yard, partial-yardage, and custom actions fill convenient starting values. Dimensions remain visible and editable. Measure the actual piece: an edited 18 × 20-inch fat quarter is planned as 18 × 20, not 18 × 21.
9. Cut requirements
Each row describes one repeated rectangular cut group and assigns it to a fabric. Add, duplicate, delete/undo, or paste rows. Calculation does not depend on visual row order.
10. Piece label
Use a short label you will recognize at the cutting table, such as Blue corner square. It appears in instructions, diagrams, and text alternatives and stays local to your browser.
11. Quantity
Enter the number of identical pieces required. Quantity must be a positive whole number. If a construction method yields batches, calculate those unit cuts in the relevant calculator first.
12. Width and height
Enter the rectangle's two dimensions in the selected measurement system. Width is the initial across-fabric extent; height is the initial lengthwise extent. Allowed rotation may swap them.
13. Cut vs finished dimensions
Cut uses the entered dimensions exactly. Finished describes the sewn size, so QuiltClarity adds twice the project seam allowance to both dimensions and shows the resolved cut size under More options.
Common mistake: choosing Finished for dimensions a pattern already labels as cut.
14. WOF strips and orientation constraints
A width-of-fabric strip spans the full usable crosswise width and consumes its strip width down the bolt. It cannot rotate into a lengthwise strip or fit a stock bin narrower than usable WOF. Crosswise and lengthwise orientation constraints likewise preserve the required fabric axis.
15. Spreadsheet paste
Use Paste from spreadsheet for CSV or tab-separated data in the documented columns: Fabric, Label, Qty, Width, Height, Size mode. Review the preview, fix malformed cells, map unmatched fabrics explicitly, then confirm. QuiltClarity never guesses cut requirements from prose.
16. Pattern yardage comparison
Pattern says and Pattern usable WOF are optional per fabric. QuiltClarity compares the stated amount with a separate all-new-fabric scenario using the cuts you entered. A WOF mismatch produces a not-like-for-like warning.
17. Calculate and recalculate
Select Calculate Cutting Plan after editing. Complex planning does not run on every keystroke. If an input changes after a result, the old result remains visible but is marked Plan needs recalculation; select Recalculate before acting on it.
18. Project status
The first result states whether every cut is covered by stock, additional purchase is needed, or requirements remain uncovered. Blocking input errors prevent a result; warnings preserve a usable result and explain the limitation.
19. Shopping list
This is the actionable per-fabric purchase summary. It separates raw additional plan, the amount with safety, and the shop-rounded Buy now amount.
20. Buy now
What it means: the purchase remaining after exact stock allocation.What it includes: safety and upward purchase rounding on new fabric. What it does not mean: the pattern amount or all-new-fabric requirement.
21. Fresh-fabric plan
This hypothetical scenario plans all entered cuts from a new bolt under current assumptions and ignores stock. It provides the fair basis for pattern comparison, so it can be nonzero when Buy now is zero.
22. Pattern says
This is the external amount you entered. It may include construction method, trimming, shrinkage, squaring, miscuts, fussy cutting, direction, or designer preference. A difference is information—not proof of a pattern error.
23. Existing-stock allocations
Each physical stock bin shows the exact pieces placed into it, cutting instructions, geometry, and a text equivalent. Bin labels remain distinct. An allocation of two remnants is never presented as one joined rectangle.
24. Purchased-fabric layout
If stock leaves a shortfall, this section shows the exact remaining pieces on a fixed-width, variable-length purchased bolt. Raw length and rounded purchase are separate so you can audit the shop quantity.
25. Cutting instructions and diagram
Instructions and SVG are projected from the same selected placements. Follow named stock bins first, then the purchased-bolt plan. When geometry cannot be truthfully simplified into strips, use the exact diagram and piece list. The layout is practical and deterministic, not a proven global optimum.
26. Leftovers
Useful remaining regions are deterministic rectangles from the selected stock geometry. Separate rectangles are listed separately; QuiltClarity does not promise they combine into one contiguous remnant.
27. Assumptions and warnings
Check usable WOF, seam allowance, safety, purchase increment, rotation, direction, and method disclosures before buying or cutting. Correctness-critical caveats stay visible even when a ? control offers more explanation.
28. Print
Print includes project identity/date, shopping, comparisons, allocations, instructions, assumptions, warnings, diagrams, and text alternatives. Editing controls and navigation are omitted. Diagram pages choose portrait or landscape and remain grayscale-safe.
29. Common errors
- Using nominal width instead of usable WOF.
- Entering cut dimensions as Finished.
- Combining separate remnants into one rectangle.
- Allowing rotation for a directional piece.
- Reading Buy now as the fresh-fabric or pattern amount.
- Acting on a result marked Plan needs recalculation.
30. Common special cases
For a cut list copied from a spreadsheet, use the deterministic paste preview. For WOF strips or directional fabric, open More options. For one stock rectangle and one repeated piece, use Pieces from Fabric. For backing, batting, binding, triangle units, blocks, borders, or sashing, use the focused calculators.