Cream sample of fabric covers measuring device (9)
I believe the answer is:
stopwatch
'device' is the definition.
(stopwatch is a kind of device)
'cream sample of fabric covers' is the wordplay.
'cream' becomes 'top' (as in the cream of the crop).
'sample of fabric' becomes 'swatch' (I've seen this before).
'covers' is an insertion indicator.
'top' going within 'swatch' is 'STOPWATCH'.
'measuring' is the link.
This may not be right. It may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stopwatch that I've seen before include "Timer for races, etc" , "Timepiece for timing, a race perhaps" , "Timepiece for recording speed of racers" , "Race timer" , "Timepiece for exact timing" .)