Originally Posted by annesthreads
Originally Posted by hobo2000
Scissor Queen is right. Tearing saves time and gives you the straight grain and solves your space problem.
Thankyou both! - will take a deep breath and try this.
OK - have done it and I now have a nice piece of fabric for my backing, with a good margin all round. And I've learned something: the person who taught me always cut, even if it involved complicated folding - which I can never figure out. Tearing will be a great help.