A DXF a factory can actually cut: what the plant checks

A pattern a factory sends back costs two weeks, and the email announcing it almost never says why. Here is what is actually checked on import.

DXF-2, and what the term covers

DXF-2 refers to the AAMA/ASTM interchange standard for apparel pattern data: a constrained profile of DXF that carries pattern semantics rather than generic drawing lines. Each piece is a closed boundary with its internal lines, notches, drill holes, grainline, piece name, cut quantity and fabric type. CAD and cutting systems import it directly.

The four checks

• Closed pieces. A boundary left open by a tenth of a millimetre cannot be cut by a cutting table. It is the first reason files come back.
• Corresponding notches. A notch on the front with no twin on the back makes assembly impossible to check.
• A grainline on every piece. Without it the placement is arbitrary and the garment hangs badly after the first wash.
• Piece name and cut quantity. Without them nobody knows whether to cut one or two, or in which cloth.

What cannot be recovered from a picture

An image model produces a render, not cutting geometry. A production pattern encodes ease, seam behaviour, fabric stretch, grainline and how a specific factory will assemble the piece, and none of that is readable from a photograph of a garment. Automatic tracing tools are useful for a rough block, and the factory will still send the file back if the pieces do not close.

That is why the pattern is cut by a pattern maker and not by the machine. On this platform the AI does the design and visualisation work and a human pattern maker cuts the pattern. That split is deliberate.

What the delivered file contains

The pattern fee ($29, $59 or $129 by piece count) buys the DXF production files, at the base size and net of seam allowance. Seam allowances ($5), grading ($15), a marker layout ($10) and the factory spec sheet ($10) are add-ons, priced before you pay. We say it in that order because a factory that receives a pattern it believes is graded, and is not, loses the day.

Before you order

Ask your factory two things in writing: the exact format it wants (DXF-2 AAMA, or its own house variant) and whether it expects the pattern with or without seam allowances. Those two answers remove half the back and forth.