Originally Posted by Carol's Quilts
I am having a little trouble finding the straight of grain. Usually I just fold the fabric so the selvages meet, then adjust by moving the fabric layers to the left/right of each other until the fabric hangs straight at the fold without a twist or wrinkle. Then I trim the cut edges by cutting them at a 90 degree angle with my ruler and rotary cutter on the cutting mat. Never have a problem with anything coming out wonky.
However, always looking for a better or more correct way to do things, I thought I would try pulling a thread across the width, but it kept breaking after about an inch of pulling so I gave up.
Then I tried tearing the fabric along the width which worked beautifully. I ironed the torn edges, folded the fabric, lining up the cut edges, and it lay perfectly flat - success!
But the selvages didn't meet! They met on one side but were 1/2" apart on the other.
On top of that, the design (a floral stripe) was really crooked parallel to the torn edge, but was almost perfectly straight at a 90 degree angle to the selvage.
I'm so totally confused that I'm sorry I ever tried to do it the "better" way.
What would you do? How do you find the straight of grain?
I am an apparel sewer and home dec sewer so straight of grain is very important to me. First of all, if you want to get a true straight of grain you need to wash the fabric first to get all the sizing out from the manufacturing. Then do as your first method. Sometimes you need to pull the fabric from opposing corners to straighten out the grain. As far as your floral stripe, is it a woven stripe or a printed stripe. If it is the same colors front and back it is woven, if it is pale on the back it is printed stripe. In this case the stripe may not have been applied to the fabric in a true straight of grain. In most quilting fabrics that have a stripe, you have to ignore the perfectly lined up stripe and concentrate on the floral aspect of it. When I use stripes in quilting I like to use it for bias or as a crosswise stripe. Then you don't notice the discrepincies (sp?) in the grain. Hope this helps.