Old 03-20-2018, 06:48 PM
  #10  
Prism99
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
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The problem I have with ripping cross-grain is that it damages the fabric up to 2" in from the rip. You can't see the damage with the naked eye, but it is obvious under a microscope. Even if I were to refold the fabric on-grain, I would have to trim 2" off each ripped edge to be sure not to have weakened fabric in some of my blocks, since I don't have a microscope handy to see if the fabric was damaged only 1" from the rip.

At least they were generous with the cuts to make up for the extra I had to cut off from each end.

I don't have a problem with ripping fabric along the lengthwise grain, especially when long borders are needed, because it is a cleaner rip with damage not extending as far into the fabric. Cross-grain ripping, on the other hand, is the pits.
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