How do you cut your fabric? Do you lay the fabric out with the fold close to you? Or away from you? I've always done it with the fold away from me, but just now I wondered if there would be an advantage to doing it the other way. I know I can trust you to give me the right answer!

Try both ways and see which way works better for you.

I try to make my first cut(s) parallel to the selvage - I figure that way I'll have at least two edges on grain -

And because I tend to goof up, four layers is about my absolute maximum to cut at one time.

First of all, I line up the selvages and press a new fold, then I cut my selvage off. If I am cutting lots of strips, I double up the fabric end to end so I have four layers.

I have drawn a line on my cutting mat about 1/2in from one side. I lay the fold on that line, that way I can see the markings at the sides that I can line up my ruler. I cut from the folded side.

I fold salvage to salvage until there is a smooth line at the bottom, and put the botton close to me. I line my ruler with the fold and cut on the right of the ruler. I then turn my mat around and measure whaever width I need and always cut at the right of the ruler. At his point the fold is away from me, but now I only use the straight edge to align the ruler.

Is this clear as mud?

Maria

When I can, I like to leave the selvage that has the info on the fabric.

I usually try to avoid using it in the project, though - unless it's laying nice and flat -

I will sometimes snip the selvage edges to make them lay flat if they shrank when I washed the fabric.

I just wondered if there is an advantage to doing it one way vs. the other. Any opinions about that?

Also, I have had trouble getting a bend when I cut my fabrics--near where the fold is. I tried finding information about that and was under the impression that ironing a new fold could cause the grain to be crooked, which causes the bend. Maybe I'm misunderstanding that. Can someone enlighten me?

This might be helpful


http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles...t-fabric.shtml

I fold and iron my material until it is flat, then lay the fold on a line and make sure it is straight.

That is a great tute!!
It took me a long time to avoid the bend in the folded area. I think having a big enough area to lay out the fabric while folding was what my problem was. It is still a struggle when using fabrics longer than 1 1/2 yards.

Thanks for the link to the tutorial. That was very helpful.