A real marker
13% shorter than the first fit, 85% of the fabric used
4 sets of a shirt pattern on a 1500 mm roll, nested by the Lescut fabric nesting engine. The first marker that fits is only the start: the search keeps reshuffling pieces and closing the gaps, and every shorter marker it finds replaces the last.
Patterns in, markers out
Fabric nesting straight from your pattern CAD to your cutter
No redrawing and no conversion step: Lescut reads the pattern exchange files your CAD already writes and returns the marker with every line of the original pieces.
AAMA/ASTM DXF in
Piece boundaries, internal cut-outs, grain lines, mirror lines, sizes and quantities come from the pattern file. Plain DXF and SVG work too.
Grain, rotation and flip rules
Set per piece, so directional fabric, naps and prints are never cut the wrong way.
True shape nesting
Curved pieces interlock instead of being boxed, and small pieces drop into the gaps and inside cut-outs.
Your cutter’s gap
Set the minimum distance between pieces to match your blade or kerf.
One DXF and SVG per marker
Notches, drill holes, sew lines and text travel along, on your original layers, with the marker length and efficiency written on it.
Any material on the roll
Apparel and upholstery fabric, technical textiles and nonwovens, composite fabrics, vinyl, foam and film: the same nesting on a roll of fixed width.
Layers your cutter expects
A cutter profile renames and recolours layers for each tool on your table.
Stripes, plaids and folded markers
Fabric nesting that lines pieces up with the stripes and checks of your fabric, and markers for fabric spread on the fold or knit tubes, with half pieces cut on the fold.
Savings calculator
What is one point of marker efficiency worth to you?
The same garments need the same area of fabric however the marker is laid out, so a higher efficiency means a shorter marker. Enter your own volume and prices to see what that saves each month, next to the price of the plan that runs it.
80% today → 82.0% with nesting. This is your assumption; the trial measures it on your own files.
Engine time: how the plan is chosen
Count every lay cut from a marker; most markers need 2 to 5 minutes, and longer jobs keep shortening them. Your monthly volume divided by this gives the jobs a month, and the calculator picks the cheapest plan whose engine minutes and job length cover them.
The yield gain is your assumption; the trial measures it on your own files. More on how the fabric savings calculator works.
Pricing
Marker making plans, free for 7 days
Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial with 30 engine minutes. Add a card when you sign up; you are charged only if you keep the plan after the trial.
Textile Starter
€29 per month
120 engine minutes, 8 vCPU per job, jobs up to 2 min
- Roll nesting: fixed width, shortest marker
- Rotation, grain and flip rules per part
- Part-in-part nesting
- DXF / SVG in, DXF / SVG out, layers kept
- Stripe and plaid matching, folded and tubular markers
- 1 user
€0 for 7 days. Card required. Cancel any time.
Textile Enterprise
from €190 per month
900 engine minutes, up to 16 vCPU per job, jobs up to 20 min
- Everything in Textile Pro
- 5× the engine minutes and jobs up to 20 min
- 10 jobs at a time, each on its own machine with up to 16 vCPU
- Priority queue
- Unlimited team members
- SSO (planned)
€0 for 7 days. Card required. Cancel any time.
Extra engine minutes are €0.50 each, with up to 30% off. More jobs at a time? Contact us. Cutting scanned hides instead? See leather nesting, or sheet nesting for stock sheets. Comparing tools? See the best nesting software by what you cut.
Fabric nesting by industry
- UpholsterySofa and chair covers on fewer hides and shorter markers
- ApparelShorter markers for every style and size ratio
- Fast fashionFast fashion markers in minutes, with less fabric waste
- CompositesPrepreg plies on the shortest length of roll, at their fibre angle
- Tents, awnings and coversLong panels for tents, awnings and covers on the shortest roll length
- SailsSail panels on the shortest length of sailcloth
- Wind turbine bladesBlade ply kits on the shortest length of glass fabric
- AirbagsAirbag panels on the shortest length of airbag fabric
Questions about fabric nesting and marker making
What is marker making?
Marker making is laying out every pattern piece of the order on the fabric width so the lay is as short as possible. The marker is the plan the cutter follows; every centimetre it saves is saved again on every ply you spread.
What is the difference between fabric nesting and marker making?
None in practice: fabric nesting (or textile nesting) is the general term for placing pieces on fabric, marker making is the cutting-room name for doing it on a roll of fixed width. Lescut is textile nesting software for both, nesting true shapes on the real outlines of your pieces.
Can I nest materials other than fabric?
Yes. Anything cut from a roll of fixed width nests the same way: technical textiles, nonwovens and felt, glass and carbon fabric for composites, coated fabrics and vinyl, foam and film. Upload the parts as DXF or SVG and enter the usable roll width.
Which pattern files can I upload?
AAMA/ASTM DXF from your pattern CAD, plain DXF or SVG. Export the sizes the marker should hold; from AAMA files Lescut reads piece boundaries, internal cut-outs, grain lines, mirror lines, sizes and quantities; notches, drill holes, sew lines and text travel along into the marker. Using another format? Send us a sample file and we can add it.
How long does a marker take?
You set the time. Lescut finds a first marker in seconds, then keeps searching for a shorter one until the time is up. You watch the marker length drop live, and can stop the job at any point and keep the best marker so far.
Can I keep pieces on grain or stop them from flipping?
Yes. Grain lines come from the pattern file, and each piece can have its own rotation and flip rules, so directional fabrics, naps and prints are never cut the wrong way.
Can Lescut match stripes and plaids, or make folded markers?
Yes. Give the stripe or plaid repeat, and every piece with a match point in its pattern file lands on the same stripe, within the tolerance you set, so stripes and checks line up across seams. For fabric spread on the fold or knit tubes, the marker nests on half the width: each piece is cut with its mirror image, and pieces with a mirror line are cut on the fold, with the outline left open along it.
Which cutters can use the markers?
Any cutter whose software imports DXF or SVG, from automatic multi-ply cutters to single-ply knife tables and lasers. Each marker keeps your original layers and curves, and a cutter profile can rename and recolour layers for your cutter's tools.