Hey David I can sympathize with what you've encountered. Here's what I learned/was taught - before you begin to make any cuts, hold your fabric up by the selvages. Look at the fold in the fabric - does the top layer look like it's shifted or pulled a little either left or right? If so, and you just lay the fabric down and cut your 2 or 3 inch strips, when you unfold, they will form Vs. Move the top layer of fabric a little left or right until you don't see that shift/pulled look; then cut a straight edge. From the straight edge then measure your strips and cut. There are two straight-of-the-grains - one horizontally (with the length of the cut fabric) and one vertically (selvage to selvage). It's the selvage to selvage straight-of-the-grain that is giving you problems. When it's lined up correctly, all cuts will be without the V. Fabric gets stretched on the bolt, causing the selvage to selvage to shift, hence V cuts ensue. Hope this helps.