A real nest
2 biker jackets from one scanned hide, 76% of the leather used
A biker jacket in cowhide nappa, back, left and right fronts and sleeves, collar and under-collar, facings, cuff tabs and pocket welts: 14 pieces a jacket, on hide H-2026-0011, scanned from a real hide. Back, fronts and collar take prime leather, sleeves grade B, facings and under-collar grade C; the large pieces stay along the hide within 5°. The order asked for more jackets than this hide holds, so with prefer complete sets Lescut placed 2 whole jackets and filled the leftover with 18 parts of the next ones.
| Part | Per set | Grade | Rotation | Tilt | Mirror |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| back | 1 | prime | 180° steps | ±5° | no |
| front-l | 1 | prime | 180° steps | ±5° | no |
| front-r | 1 | prime | 180° steps | ±5° | no |
| sleeve-l | 1 | B | 180° steps | ±5° | no |
| sleeve-r | 1 | B | 180° steps | ±5° | no |
| facing | 2 | C | 180° steps | ±5° | no |
| collar | 1 | prime | 180° steps | ±5° | no |
| under-collar | 1 | C | 180° steps | ±5° | no |
| cuff-tab | 2 | B | free | – | no |
| pocket-welt | 3 | B | free | – | no |
- complete sets
- 2
- material used
- 75.8%
- hides used
- 1 of 1
- gap between parts
- 2 mm
- search time
- 2 min
Want to see how Lescut nests your own parts? Start a free trial or send us your parts.
The problem
Large pieces, matching shade and stretch
The back takes the best leather
A jacket back is one of the largest pieces cut from a hide and must be flawless. Where it goes decides what is left for the fronts and sleeves.
Stretch runs one way
Leather stretches more across the hide than along it, so pieces are cut with the hide's line to hang and wear evenly.
One garment, one shade
A sleeve from another tanning shows next to the body. A garment's pieces must come from hides that match.
Applications
Where leather garment nesting software is used
Biker and fashion jackets
Backs, fronts and sleeves on prime leather, facings on lower grades.
Coats and trench coats
Long panels that need clean runs of leather along the hide.
Leather trousers
Long legs along the hide's stretch, left and right drawn apart.
Gloves
Dress, work and sports gloves: many small pieces with the stretch across the hand.
Shearling and sheepskin
Skins with a direction of the wool; no flips, pieces with the nap.
Motorcycle protective gear
Jackets, trousers and suits in thick cowhide with armour pockets, cut with their grades.
Settings to start from
A starting point for leather jackets and garments
Rules per part come from text in your file (NAME, QTY, GRADE, ROT, TILT, FLIP) or the parts table; the rest is saved once in a nesting profile that starts every job.
| For | Setting | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Back, fronts, collar | GRADE:A, ROT:180, TILT:5 | prime leather, along the hide's line |
| Sleeves | GRADE:B, ROT:180, TILT:5 | a grade less, same direction rule |
| Facings, under-collar | GRADE:C | hidden in the garment |
| Left and right pieces | two parts, FLIP:N | a mirrored piece is the other side's piece |
| Sets mode | strict complete sets with shade groups | one garment from one shade lot |
Preparing your files
From your CAD to Lescut
Lescut reads AAMA/ASTM DXF from garment pattern CAD as well as plain DXF and SVG.
- Export each size of the order; each size's pieces become their own parts.
- Keep notches and drill marks in the pattern: they travel into the cutting file.
- Draw left and right pieces apart with their quantities.
Good to know
What Lescut does not do
- Lescut does not grade patterns: export the sizes from your CAD.
- It nests on scanned hides and skins only.
- Textile linings are nested with fabric nesting, a separate Lescut organization.
Savings
What better nesting is worth in leather jackets and garments
The same parts need the same area of material however they are nested, so a better yield means buying less of it. Garment leather is bought by the square foot and a jacket takes most of a skin or a good part of a hide. The starting figures are an example for a jacket maker cutting cowhide nappa; enter your own.
66% today → 69.0% with nesting. This is your assumption; the trial measures it on your own files.
Engine time: how the plan is chosen
A batch of about 10 hides nests well in a 10-minute job; a single hide waiting on the table needs 10 to 30 seconds. 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 leather yield calculator works.
Pricing
Leather garment nesting software plans, free for 7 days
Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial with engine minutes to nest your own parts against the hides you would have used. Add a card when you sign up; you are charged only if you keep the plan.
Leather Enterprise
from €890 per month
4,500 engine minutes, up to 16 vCPU per job, jobs up to 60 min
- Everything in Leather Pro
- 5× the engine minutes and jobs up to 60 min for large orders
- 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. All leather nesting plans.
Leather garment nesting software: questions
Can one jacket span several skins?
Yes. A set may span hides; with strict complete sets, all of a jacket's pieces come from hides of one shade group.
Can I nest lambskin and goatskin as well as cowhide?
Yes. Any scanned skin nests the same way; small skins simply hold fewer pieces each.
Can I nest gloves?
Yes. Glove pieces are small and many; give the palm and back their grade and the stretch direction across the hand with their rotation rule.