From the forums, can’t attribute as it has been copied around a lot.
“Here is the strategy I mapped out to get from 1 to 250 tailoring using as little cloth as possible. Couple of things:
* This assumes you make bolts of cloth until you no longer get skill-ups for them. For everything else, you move onto the next level once the item turns yellow for you. (So this only counts bolts and orange stuff for advancement)
* The levels at which stuff goes yellow is unverified, based on allakhazam. It looks right, but I won’t know for sure until I actually do this. (I can that the numbers for Linen and Wool bolts are probably lower than they could be… i.e. You could continue past the number I gave and still get some skillups. You might end up with an excess of bolts though.)
* There is no consumption cost for making bolts, because it is assumed they will be used in the making of other goods.
* All but three of the patterns can be learned from a trainer (I think). I’ve listed where to get the other three.
1-30 Bolt of Linen Cloth –
31-45 Brown Linen Vest: 30 Linen, 15 Coarse Thread
46-50 Linen Belt: 10 Linen, 5 Coarse Thread
51-60 Heavy Linen Gloves: 40 Linen, 10 Coarse Thread
61-65 Blue Linen Shirt: 20 Linen, 5 Coarse Thread, 5 Blue Dye
66-75 Reinforced Linen Cape: 40 Linen, 30 Coarse Thread
76-90 Bolt of Wool Cloth –
91-100 Woolen Cape: 30 Wool, 10 Fine Thread
101-110 Gray Woolen Shirt: 60 Wool, 10 Fine Thread, 10 Gray Dye
111-125 Double-Stitch Shoudlers: 135 Wool, 30 Fine Thread
126-145 Bolt of Silk Cloth –
146-155 Azure Silk Hood: 80 Silk, 10 Fine Thread, 20 Blue Dye
156-165 Dark Silk Shirt: 80 Silk, 10 Fine Thread, 20 Gray Dye
166-170 Silk Headband: 60 Silk, 10 Fine Thread
171-175 Formal White Shirt: 60 Silk, 5 Fine Thread, 10 Bleach
176-185 Bolt of Mageweave –
186-195 Azure Silk Cloak: 120 Silk, 20 Fine Thread, 20 Blue Dye
196-205 Crimson Silk Vest: 160 Silk, 20 Fine Thread, 20 Red Dye
206-215 Black Mageweave Legs: 100 Mageweave, 30 Silken Thread
216-225 White Bandit Mask: 50 Mageweave, 10 Heavy Silken Thread, 10 Bleach
226-230 Black Mageweave Gloves: 50 Mageweave, 10 Heavy Silken Thread
231-245 Black Mageweave Headband: 225 Mageweave, 30 Heavy Silken Thread
246-250 Tuxedo Shirt: 80 Mageweave, 10 Heavy Silken Thread
TOTAL CLOTH (Based on prices you can reasonably expect to pay at AH. If you buy directly from other players, you can get much better deals.)
140 Linen (7 Stacks) = 2g
225 Wool (11+ Stacks) = 6g
560 Silk (28 Stacks) = 14g
505 Mageweave (25+ Stacks) = 25g
TOTAL VENDOR GOODS
65 Coarse Thread = 6.5s
125 Fine Thread = 1.25g
30 Silken Thread = 1.5g
60 Heavy Silken Thread = 12g
20 Bleach = 5s
45 Blue Dye = 22.5s
30 Gray Die = 1g
20 Red Dye = 10s
10 Purple Dye = 2.5g
Dark Silk Shirt Pattern: Darkshire, 11s
White Bandit Mask Pattern: Drop, apprx. 75s
Tuxedo Shirt Pattern: Ironforge, 50s
Total Vendor Costs: 20 gold (not including discount or training)
Total Cloth Costs: 47 gold
Total Sell Value: 27 gold (This is what you would get from vendors for selling everything you make)”