Originally Posted by Moonpi
Originally Posted by Darlene
I have never seen a store rip fabric but it would go against what I would like. It does seems wasteful to do this and leave a messy edge.
I'm a ripper from way back. I WISH my local shops would rip. It seems like every time they cut, it is uneven and ravels in the wash. When I've mentioned that a piece was being cut crooked, the clerk stretched it to match. I just shook my head. If cloth is woven well, ripping will give you an edge that is true. No waste at all.
mp, i think the key words here are 'well woven'. most fabric is not woven straight across from selvedge to selvedge. when i sewed professionally, there always had to more fabric than was 'needed' to account for off-grain.
the thing is that when the weaving is taking place, the front and back rollers must go at the same speed. if the woven fabric comes onto the roller at a different speed than it entered the weaving loom, off-graining occurs. the lengthwise fibres come off the first roller, the shuttle goes back and forth across the lengthwise threads (fibres) weaving everything into fabric. then the fabric comes out of the loom onto another roller for rolling onto a roll of cardboard. if the roller that feeds the lengthwise threads is going at a different speed than the take-up roller, then the shuttle isn't moving back and forth evenly, causing those cross threads to be at an angle, or off-grain. when you rip, it rips at the angle at which it was woven. you can never get it to be straight.
ripping lengthwise is always fine. they just go happily along at whatever rate of speed comes along.