A method and apparatus by which stacks of pattern pieces cut from a layup of sheet material by a cutting tool are bundled and removed from the remaining waste material. A bundler inserts fasteners to bundle at least some of the stacks together and an automatic take-off device removes the bundled stacks from the layup. The cutting tool and bundler are both mounted to a two-axis carriage system and share a common controller with the take-off means. The controller guides the cutting tool around the pattern piece peripheries in response to control data and the bundler inserts fasteners into locations in the layup determined from the same control data. The controller then provides the exact locations of the inserted fasteners to the automatic take-off device which thereafter removes the cut stacks of pieces from the layup. In one embodiment of the invention, identifying information is printed upon the fastener by a printer associated with the bundler to aid in identifying the stacks of pattern pieces.