Originally Posted by
lillybeck
I will no longer use the scant seam. Both times I have used it has been on high quality cotton fabric and both times the seams have frayed so bad in places that it is in need of repair before it is even used.
With bearisgray's permission, I would add another question.
* Are you cutting your pieces on a straight fabric grain, either length or width? All but the very loosely woven fabrics will fray far less if their edges are as close to the grain line (i.e., a single thread running top to bottom) as you can make them. This is true for even the 'bargain brand' woven fabrics.
Fabrics want to look neat and tidy so they try to shed all their 'loose ends' to even up their edges.
Once the edges are even, they're happy and they stop fraying.
Also, if the scant business is a problem for you, why not just use a regular quarter inch? Why go to the trouble of trying to increase everything to a half inch? That's too much math for me and I'm a math geek big time. It would also use a lot of fabric that will never be seen, put bulk in the seam joints, be difficult to keep accurate (no ½" foot that I know of), and throw off all the formulas for things like HSTs and setting triangles. Why not try a standard quarter inch seam for awhile and see how you feel? Just a suggestion.