Cloth & Chalk
Fabric Calculator · Bespoke Menswear
Reference

A glossary of
bespoke tailoring terms

The vocabulary a tailor, a cutter and a cloth merchant use with each other, defined plainly. Weighted toward the words that come up when you are buying cloth, because those are the ones that cost money when misunderstood. Where a term changes how much cloth an order needs, the figure is given.

Jump to buying cloth, kinds of cloth, pattern and nap, cutting and layout, jacket construction, trousers, waistcoat and shirt, or fit and measurement.

Buying cloth

Yardage
The length of cloth an order needs, always at a stated width. A yardage figure without a width attached is close to meaningless, because what decides the number is how many pattern pieces fit side by side across the cloth. See the yardage chart.
Cloth width
The measurement selvedge to selvedge. Suiting is reliably 58 to 60 inches, with some Italian mills at 54. Shirting is far less consistent and is often 44 or 45. Width matters more than size: eight inches of chest costs a suit under four tenths of a yard, while six inches of width can cost more than a yard.
Cut length
A length cut from a larger piece to order, as opposed to buying the whole piece. What you are quoting when you ask a merchant for four yards.
Piece
The full length of cloth as it comes from the mill, usually 30 to 70 yards. Merchants cut from it; you almost never buy one whole.
Bunch
A merchant's swatch book, with a small square of every cloth in a collection. What a tailor puts in front of a client to choose from. Swatches carry the reference number you order against.
Selvedge
The finished, non-fraying edge running along both sides of the cloth as woven. It marks the straight grain, which is why cutters use it to square up a lay, and it is normally excluded from the usable width.
Dye lot
A single batch of cloth dyed together. Two lots of nominally the same cloth will not match exactly under daylight. This is why a spare pair of trousers has to be ordered with the suit rather than later, and why running short mid-order is expensive.
Super number
A measure of wool fibre fineness, as in Super 110s or Super 150s. Higher numbers mean finer fibre, a smoother handle and more drape. They do not mean better, and above roughly Super 130s the cloth becomes noticeably more delicate and harder to press. It says nothing about weight.
Cloth weight
Given in ounces per yard or grams per square metre. Roughly: 7 to 9 oz is summer weight, 10 to 12 oz is year-round, 13 oz and above is winter or country cloth. Heavier cloth tailors more easily and holds a press better. Weight does not affect yardage, only handle.

Kinds of cloth

Worsted
Wool spun from long fibres combed parallel before spinning. Smooth, fine and crisp, and the default for business suiting. Takes a sharp crease and shows a clean edge.
Woollen
Wool spun from shorter fibres left deliberately jumbled, giving a softer, hairier, more open cloth. Tweeds and flannels are woollens. Warmer and more forgiving than worsted, but blurrier at the edges.
Flannel
A cloth with a lightly brushed surface that softens the weave underneath. Handsome and warm, but the brushing gives it a subtle nap, so it should be cut one way up. See nap.
Tweed
A coarse, sturdy woollen originally from Scotland and Ireland, usually with flecked or checked colour. The classic sport coat cloth, and often woven in large repeats, which is what makes tweed jackets expensive to cut. See the sport coat guide.
Hopsack
A loose basketweave, breathable and resistant to creasing, common in navy blazers and summer jackets. The open weave frays readily and wants generous seam allowances.
Twill
A weave with a visible diagonal rib, including serge, gabardine and cavalry twill. Hard-wearing and good at hiding marks. Some twills have a directional weave pronounced enough to want one-way cutting.
Birdseye and nailhead
Small all-over dot patterns woven into worsted suiting, reading as a solid colour at a distance. The repeat is tiny, so they behave as plain cloth for matching purposes.
Poplin
A fine, closely woven plain-weave shirting with a smooth, slightly lustrous face. The standard dress shirt cloth.
Oxford
A heavier, more textured basketweave shirting, softer and more casual than poplin. Pinpoint oxford is the finer version.
End-on-end
Shirting woven with alternating coloured and white threads, giving a soft mottled tone that reads as solid from a distance. Effectively plain for cutting.

Pattern and nap

Pattern repeat
The distance before a woven design starts over, measured vertically and horizontally. The single most useful number to know when ordering patterned cloth, because the matching allowance scales with it: roughly one repeat lost at each seam zone. A 2-inch repeat costs about 11 per cent extra, a 6-inch repeat about 33 per cent, and anything from about 9 inches upward is capped around 50 per cent.
Pattern matching
Cutting so the design runs true across every seam. It costs cloth because patterned cloth must be cut single-layer with the repeat aligned rather than folded and cut two layers at a time. Applies to shell cloth only; lining never needs matching.
Nap
A raised or brushed surface with a direction to it, as on velvet, corduroy, moleskin and brushed flannel. Every piece must be cut the same way up or panels shade differently once made up.
One-way cloth
Any cloth that must be cut all in the same direction, whether because of nap or a directional print. The cost falls almost entirely on trousers, and it is not a percentage. It is nothing at all or it is very large: at 36R and 40R on 60-inch cloth it costs nothing, while at 44R it adds about 1.2 yards. See the trousers guide.
Pinstripe and chalk stripe
Vertical stripes on suiting. A pinstripe is a fine dotted line; a chalk stripe is broader and softer-edged, as if drawn in tailor's chalk. Both need matching across seams.
Bengal stripe
An evenly spaced shirting stripe of roughly equal coloured and white bands. Repeats are usually under an inch, so the real matching allowance is often well below the flat 15 per cent rate.
Glen check
A woven check of small and large crossing patterns, also called Prince of Wales when it carries an overcheck in a contrasting colour. Repeats vary widely, from about an inch to several.
District check
Any of the bold estate checks of the Scottish Highlands, traditionally identifying a particular estate. Large repeats, so they sit at or near the top of the matching allowance.
Windowpane
A widely spaced check of single lines forming large squares. Because the lines are far apart, the repeat is large and the matching allowance high, even though the cloth looks almost plain.

Cutting and layout

Grain
The direction of the threads. Straight grain runs parallel to the selvedge and is how nearly every piece is cut, because cloth is most stable along it. Cutting off grain is the usual cause of a panel that twists after making up.
Bias
Cut at 45 degrees to the grain, where cloth stretches and drapes most. Used deliberately for undercollars and some facings so they mould to a curve.
Cut on the fold
A piece drafted as one half and laid against a fold in the cloth, so one cut produces a symmetric whole. A shirt back is the common case. It is a frequent way to under-order, because the piece needs its full unfolded width even though it looks half-size on paper.
Lay
The complete arrangement of pattern pieces on the cloth before cutting, also called a marker. Working out the lay is what actually determines yardage, rather than any per-garment allowance.
Nesting
Interlocking tapered pieces head to toe so the wide end of one sits beside the narrow end of its neighbour. It is how four trouser legs fit across a single width, and it is the first thing lost on one-way cloth.
Seam allowance
The margin of cloth beyond the finished seam line, typically around an inch in bespoke work. Larger than in ready-to-wear, deliberately.
Inlay
Extra cloth left in the seams beyond the normal allowance so a garment can be let out later. A bespoke habit that ready-to-wear does not bother with, and a reason bespoke orders run generous.
Shrinking and stretching
Shaping flat cloth into three dimensions with heat, steam and pressure rather than with seams. The skill that lets a tailored jacket follow a chest without darts everywhere.

Jacket construction

Forepart
The front panel of a jacket, from shoulder to hem. The largest and most visible piece.
Side body
The narrow panel between the forepart and the back, running under the arm. It carries most of the shaping through the waist.
Scye
The armhole. A high, small scye allows more arm movement without dragging the whole jacket, which is counter to intuition and a hallmark of good cutting.
Gorge
The seam where the collar meets the lapel. Its height is one of the clearest markers of a jacket's era.
Facing
The piece of shell cloth that turns back to form the inside of the lapel and front edge. Wider for a shawl lapel than a notch, though in practice this does not change shell yardage, because facings are short enough to keep sharing their row.
Canvas
The interlining that gives a jacket front its shape. A floating canvas is attached only at the edges and by hand stitching so it moulds to the wearer over time. A half canvas runs to the chest only; a full canvas runs the length of the front.
Fusible
Interlining glued to the shell with heat instead of stitched. Faster and cheaper than canvas, but it stiffens the cloth and can bubble after years of cleaning.
Roll line
The line along which the lapel folds back. Pressed, never creased sharp, on a well-made jacket.
Vent
The opening at the back hem. Single at the centre, double at the sides, or none. Vents do not meaningfully change yardage.
Welt, jetted, flap and patch pockets
A welt has a single strip above the opening; jetted pockets have narrow strips both sides and no flap; a flap pocket adds a covering flap; a patch pocket is applied on top of the jacket rather than set into it. The first three cost nothing in cloth. Patch pockets are free at ordinary sizes but add about 0.12 yards at 44R on 60-inch cloth, and on checked cloth they must be cut to match the panel beneath them.
Ticket pocket
A small extra pocket above the right hip pocket. Costs nothing in cloth at any size or width.
Notch, peak and shawl
The three lapel shapes. A notch has a step cut between collar and lapel, a peak points upward, and a shawl is a continuous unbroken curve. None of them changes shell yardage.

Trousers

Rise
The distance from the crotch to the top of the waistband. A high rise sits at the natural waist, which is what a waistcoat expects, since a gap of shirt between waistcoat and trouser is the usual sign of a rise cut too low.
U-rise
Measured front waist, down through the crotch, and up to the back waist, following the body's curve rather than a straight line. More reliable than measuring front and back rise separately.
Seat
The circumference at the fullest part of the backside. Along with the thigh, it decides how wide a trouser piece has to be, which in turn decides whether four legs fit across the cloth. The widest point of the piece, and therefore the measurement that drives trouser yardage.
Outseam and inseam
Outseam runs from the waistband top to the hem down the outside of the leg; inseam runs from crotch to hem. Outseam sets the height of the trouser pattern piece and so the length of cloth needed.
Turn-ups
Cuffs at the trouser hem, folded back and usually 1½ to 2 inches deep. They add roughly a tenth of a yard, because the depth is added twice over at each hem.
Pleats
Folds at the front waist giving room through the seat and thigh. Single or double, facing forward or reverse. Usually free in cloth terms, but not always: a 44R with double pleats costs nothing at 60-inch width and 1.2 yards more at 59, because the extra front width pushes the last leg past the edge.
Curtain
The strip of lining finishing the inside top of a waistband, hanging free below it. A mark of better trouser making.
Pocketing
The stout cotton used for pocket bags rather than shell cloth or lining. Allow about 0.9 yards for a pair of trousers. It needs no matching and no one-way layout.

Waistcoat and shirt

Self-backed
A waistcoat with the back cut in the shell cloth rather than lining, so it can be worn without a jacket. The trap in the whole glossary: at 60-inch cloth this costs a 40R about eight hundredths of a yard, and at 58 inches it costs three quarters of a yard, nearly doubling the order. See the waistcoat guide.
Yoke
The panel across the shoulders of a shirt, cut twice so the seams are enclosed. A split yoke is cut in two halves on opposing grain, allowing each side to be adjusted to a sloping or uneven shoulder.
Placket
The reinforced strip carrying the buttonholes down a shirt front. A French front omits it, turning the edge back instead for a cleaner look. The sleeve placket is the slit at the wrist with its own small covering piece.
Collar band
The upright strip joining the collar to the shirt body, also called the collar stand. Its height sets how much collar shows above a jacket.
Interfacing
The stiffening inside a shirt collar, band and cuffs. Allow about a third of a yard of fusible for a shirt, which needs no lining and no canvas.

Fit and measurement

Ease
The difference between the body measurement and the finished garment measurement, added so the garment can be worn and moved in. The reason body measurements and finished garment measurements are entered differently in the calculator: one has ease added for you, the other already includes it.
Slim, modern and classic
Fit settings that change how much ease is added. Their effect on yardage is unpredictable rather than proportional, because what matters is whether an inch of extra width pushes a piece over a row boundary. A slim cut saved 0.14 yards on one jacket size and nothing at all on another. Do not assume slim always saves cloth.
Drop
The difference in inches between chest and waist in ready-to-wear sizing. A size 40 with a 6-inch drop has a 34-inch waist. Bespoke work has no drop, because both are measured.
Regular, short and long
The length suffix in ready-to-wear jacket sizing, as in 40R. It sets the back length and sleeve length for a given chest. It affects yardage less than most people assume.
Back length
Measured from the nape of the neck to the hem. It sets the height of the largest jacket pattern pieces and so has a direct effect on how much cloth a jacket needs.
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