With nap or without nap, that is the question...

OK, so I was thinking that we may need to pause for a moment and discuss fabric patterns and textures before moving forward with garment construction or further pattern dissection.  As you may (or may not) have noticed, some of the pattern envelop backs in the previous post have stated: "extra fabric may be needed to match plaids" or "not suitable for stripes", or the very last Butterick pattern has little stars that indicate "with or without nap".  I can hear you now, "What the heck is nap??"  Besides the obvious thing of taking out favorite blanket and pet and curling up after a long day of staring blankly at the pattern in front of us!!  LOL

Nap for a simple explanation is the way the fabric lays to catch the light in a uniform way.  Or perhaps the definition will help:
Nap:In actual fact, the raised, hairy or downy surface on fabrics such as flannel, etc.  In pattern however, "with nap" means any fabric surface that looks different when held up or down, such as pile, knits, and one-way designs.
Clear as mud?  So let's explore what that actually means and how this will impact the construction of the garment.

The easiest and most common example of nap is carpet.  Hopefully we have all vacuumed a carpet and parts suddenly look lighter or darker with the vacuum passes:

so the carpet is all the same color and it shouldn't matter which way we push the vacuum, but it does; same with fabrics.  If you don't pay attention to the nap, one sleeve may appear darker/lighter than the other and your garment looks "odd".  Unless of course that was the goal and some designers have flipped the nap for the sleeves or whatnot, but we won't go there yet either....

Same thing with directional prints, some plaids and some stripes, some won't matter because they are either random enough or repeat enough to not really matter, others are slightly more complicated.  Patterned fabric with an obvious directional print are a LOT easier to line up; like the ducky fleece pictured, there is a right way and a ... not so right way:

  

 Ah, now you may argue, yeah duh, of COURSE I don't want upside-down ducks on my stuff, but what is the big deal with stripes, plaids and directional patterned fabric?  It simply looks better.  A few extra moments to line up the seams makes the garment look like the piece is a well thought out, well constructed garment.  This purchased Hello Kitty scrub top is a good example.  I understand the manufacturer wants to get as many tops out of the fabric bolt as possible, but I wish they had lined up the back a bit better:

Again, does not affect the fit of the garment, but it would have looked better!!  So, what else can we line up with a foresight?  Glad you asked!  Here is dress shirt I made for my husband:

I tried to line up the dragons so they were almost in the same place on both sides.  Does it make the garment fit better?  Nah, just looks cool!

OK so that seems obvious.  Another example of some forethought, here is a Halloween scrub top I made a few years ago.  Cute print and I wanted the pockets to "blend in";

See the pockets?  if you look closely, you can see the orange thread in the black cats;but, I will make it easier for you,

I usually “over buy” the yardage for the simple reason, I like to line up stuff to the best of my ability.  If the pattern calls for 5/8 of a yard, I’m buying a full yard because 1. The bottom edge is rarely straight and 2. I like having that little extra knowing that I can move the pattern pieces around a little.  Gives a little “breathing room” so to speak.  That is not to say you have to do things this way, but it’s the way I work.

 

***Side note***  the unfortunate thing about my favorite pattern company KwikSew is they tend to waste A LOT of fabric.  So take that with a grain of salt.  KwikSew likes to line up all pattern pieces on the manufacturer’s fold, but once you get used to it, you can do a little “creative pattern laying” and save as much as a yard, depending.  A yard of fabric may not seem like a lot, but some fabric are QUITE expensive per yard, I’ve seen fancy bridal fabrics run $25 or more a yard and bridal lace is terribly expensive, running $30 to 40 a yard and they aren’t very wide.

 

So if you ever see pretty lace on sale, BUY IT!!!!  My husband, the enabler, says “what will you use it for” and I respond “I don’t know yet, but it is a fabulous buy” then he will say, “Buy it all so you have it when you need it”.  This is why I have the Fabric Hoard!!!