LESSON 8: LAY PLANNING & TYPES OF LAY PLANS

Objectives:
Examine lay planning as a factor impacted by the type of fabric
Understand the types of lays and their functional advantage

A lay is a stack of fabric plies that have been prepared for cutting. Lay Planning is
the basis of managing cutting room labor and table space. Spreading and cutting schedules
are affected by table length, type of equipment, spread length, spreading time, and cutting
time. The cutting room manager must minimize throughput time by efficient use of
equipment, table space, and personnel.
Half Garment Lay: This includes only half of the garment pieces (for example the right
side).
They are used for folded or tubular fabrics and for fabrics, which are spread face to face
Whole Garment Lay: All of the garment pieces, left and right sides are included in the lay.
Used for open width fabrics.
Single Size Lay: The lay includes all of the pieces for a single size.
Restricting the lay to a single size makes order planning and laying up the fabric easier, but
the disadvantage is a somewhat higher material consumption, compared to multi-size
pays.
Multi-size Lays:
Sectional lay:
The lay is made in at least two distinct rectangular sections. Each section contains all of the
parts for a single size. Adjacent sections may be the same or a different size.
Interlocking lay:
Two or more sections, one after the other, usually different sizes, but the sections are not
confined to strict rectangular areas; the pieces for the different sections may merge at the
borders.
Mixed multi-size lay:
In this case there are no distinct sections: the pieces for the two or more different garment
sizes are intermingled. This is the arrangement, which normally gives the best material
utilization.