Several years ago, while I was still an uptight newbie when it comes to quilting, I went to one of those wonderful stores that sells heavily discounted fabrics. At $1, $2, or $3 a yard, how can you go wrong? I picked lots of fabric, and piled it mile high on the cutting table, and was completely lost in my thoughts, already planning what quilts I would make from the new fabric when I heard this awful sound that brought me back to reality like a bucket of cold water. Riiiiippppp!!!!
I was flabbergasted, to say the least. What did she just do? I looked at the lady cutting, well ripping my fabric, like she has just murdered my first born. I was so shocked, and mad, that words were just not coming out. My mind was racing 100 mi/h about distorted threads, and stretched fabric, and, oh my, it is a catastrophe of biblical proportions. And that's where I got my first, and best lesson in quilting.
Patiently, as if she knew that I was just about to rip her head off, the lady explained me the ins and outs of fabric ripping as opposed to cutting.
This is what they say at About.com paraphrased by yours truly:
(http://quilting.about.com/od/fabricembellishment/ss/fabric_grain.htm)
The term fabric grain refers to the way threads are arranged in a piece of fabric. Long threads, called warp threads, are stretched on the loom and secured. They become the fabric's lengthwise grain, the threads that are continuous along the length of your yardage as it comes off the bolt. Weft threads are woven back and forth, perpendicular to the warp threads and along their entire length. These weft threads make up the fabric's crosswise grain. The lengthwise grain and crosswise grain are both regarded as straight grain, sometimes called straight-of-grain.
True bias is defined as the direction at a 45-degree angle to the straight grains, but in quilting we refer to any cut that doesn't run along a straight grain as a bias cut.
When we cut fabric for quilting, unless we are making triangles or curved blocks it is important that we do not cut the fabric on bias because it stretches quite a bit, and the blocks will not fit together properly no matter how precise your cutting or sewing is. When fabric is folded in half, and rolled on the bolt it shifts with each roll, and by the time we go to buy it, it is always, always cut on bias. Unless you rip it. The only way to get a strait of grain cut is to rip the fabric because it always rips,along the grain. Of course, you have to line up the salvages and clean up the rip afterwards because it does distort the fabric for the the first 1/2" or so. Unless you rip and then wash, it can take some persuading with a steamy iron to line up the fabric properly. This is really not practical for store owners for many reasons besides the question who is going to absorb the price of that 1/2", the customer or the retailer?
Unless I buy a fat quarter I almost always rip my fabric to get that true grain going. I rip fabric for my binding too, unless it is already nice and neat. Does it waste fabric? Probably, maybe, it depends on how thrifty you are. For me it is worth it, because it saves me the grief when I start to piece my blocks. They all fit perfectly, unless I screw up something else :)
So rip away sisters, and don' be afraid. That horrible sound will set you free and become music to your ears. Happy quilting!
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