Do you inspect the bolt of fabric before you cut?

[Darren Henry]

if a customer ordered 10 yards and the supplier has a bolt of 11 yards sitting there, would they ship the 11 yards?

I've got a couple of suppliers that do exactly that, and I all of the ones I deal with will say "≈ I've got an 1X yard piece---If I give the roll price will you take the whole piece?"

Any time I have called to check availability, and their computer SAYS that they have 5 or 6 yards left, in reality they only have 3 or 4 (and it's in 3 pieces)

My supplier for the material we make RV awnings out of is famous for that. They know exactly what we use it for---but will send it out in 3 and 4 yard chunks.

[bobbin]

I always ask about pcs. (this is why doing schematics for yardage is useful, my friends!).  Knowing my layout, I can easily negotiate a very nice discount on my required yardage.  Maybe I spend "too much time" on estimates, but you'd be stunned at how often I can score fabric for significant savings because I've done the schematic.   And know how I plan to cut the project beforehand allows me to increase my already determined mark up.  

Just sayin'.

[MinUph]

I always ask about pcs. (this is why doing schematics for yardage is useful, my friends!).  Knowing my layout, I can easily negotiate a very nice discount on my required yardage.  Maybe I spend "too much time" on estimates, but you'd be stunned at how often I can score fabric for significant savings because I've done the schematic.   And know how I plan to cut the project beforehand allows me to increase my already determined mark up.  

Just sayin'.

Knowing how to cut is great. Knowing how your going to cut is priceless. I don't know about schematics but proper planning will save allot of fabric. I have use a cut list program a few times when many pieces are needed and there is allot of them.