Originally Posted by Butterfli19
I was reading in a quilting book that to prep your fabric, prewashed or not, you tear it to put it on grain, line up selvedges and starch it to get it back to shape, as when it is rolled onto the bolt it becomes a bit off.
Do you do this? If not, how do you prepare your fabric?
I pull a thread, it is quick to do this, and cut along the line you can see, then pull hard on the fabric diagonally, the shortest distance, to get it square. Sometimes it takes two people for yardage~ Once you have done this, it will stay square! Pulling a thread does not distort the edges like tearing does.
It is not putting it on the bolt that distorts it... It is the lengths of fabric whizzing around on the factory machinery that does it! Often the ink is printed on distorted fabric, and then the best you can do is ignore it and cut it sort of the best you can.