Free tool
Pattern release break-even calculator
Enter what one release actually costs you and see how many copies it has to sell before it pays for the cash and then for your time.
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Tester round timeline and cohort size planner
Work out how many testers to accept, how many hours the reports will take to read, and how many calendar days sit between the call and a corrected file.
Tester rounds slip for two reasons. The cohort was sized by enthusiasm rather than by coverage, so the largest sizes never got made, and the review time was never booked, so thirty reports arrive during the week you are cutting a sample. Both are arithmetic problems, and both can be settled before you post the call.
This planner starts from the size range you are actually shipping. It works out how many accepted applicants you need to end up with real finished garments in every size, how many hours of focused reading those reports will take, and what that adds up to in calendar days once the make window and the rebuild are included.
Your result
Finished reports you need
24
Completed makes required to prove the grading across the whole shipped range.
Applicants to accept
44
Cohort size once the usual dropout rate is allowed for.
Hours of report review
14.4
Desk time to book after the make window closes, before anything gets rebuilt.
Calendar days call to corrected file
40
Application days, make window, review at three focused hours a day, plus a week to correct and rebuild.
Count back from the date you want the pattern on sale, then post the call on that day rather than on the day the sample is finished.
Why the largest sizes decide the cohort
A call that fills on a first come basis fills with the middle of the range, because that is where most makers are. The sizes that most need proving are the ones at the top, where armscye depth, dart intake and ease distribution stop scaling proportionally. If two testers per size is the target, the coverage view has to be read size by size, not as one total.
That is why the planner starts from finished makes per size rather than from a headline cohort number. Accepting forty four applicants means nothing if eleven of them are making the same middle size. Accept against the gaps, and hold two or three places open until you see which sizes stayed empty.
Booking the review hours before the reports arrive
Reports do not trickle in, they land in the last forty eight hours of the window. Twenty four reports at thirty six minutes each is fourteen hours of concentrated work, which is most of a week for anyone also drafting the next pattern. Blocking it in advance is the difference between a two week correction phase and a two month one.
Staging the window helps as well. Ask for gauge and first section notes early, then the finished report at the end. Early notes catch the errors that would otherwise waste every tester who has not started yet, and they spread the reading across two smaller blocks.
Questions about this calculator
What finish rate should I assume for a first round?
Start conservative if you have not run one before, because a new tester list has no track record behind it. Designers with an established tester pool who enforce deadlines see a much better rate than an open call. After two rounds, use your own numbers instead of any default.
Should the make window be the same for knitting and sewing?
No, and using one number is why knitting rounds run long. A woven top can be tested in a couple of weeks, while a fitted sweater in fingering weight is a much longer commitment. Set the window by the actual garment, then add a few days if the yardage is high.
Does the calendar figure include a second round?
No. It covers one round through to a corrected file. If the first round turns up a structural grading problem in the upper sizes, add a short second round for the affected sizes only, which is usually far quicker than repeating the whole thing.
More free tools and working documents
Working document
Tester round call file and correction log template
A working template for the two documents every pattern tester round needs: the call you post and the log every correction lands in.
Take that number into a real release
The figure on this screen is only worth what you do with it in the next round. Book a demo and we will build that release while you watch: the graded sizes, the dated make window, and the correction log every tester note lands in with its page and size range attached. Twenty five minutes, your pattern, your dates.