Hi!
So, I am very new to quilting. I have made hot pads and paper pieced some log cabin coasters. I am working out of a new book called Quilter's Academy. It is actually a series of 5 books the teach you about piecing quilt tops. (There is a separate book for the quilting part).
I'm also pretty new and going through the Quilter's Academy books (vol 1 at the moment). I also got really hung up on this tearing of fabric topic
Because I tend to
procrastinate study in forums, Insta, and books more than I actually quilt, this is my newbie opinion about this.
Harriet Hargrave is a very opinionated, meticulous quilter. While the argument can certainly be made that, for the size of most quilt pieces, being perfectly on grain isn't terribly important, my understanding is that off-grain fabric leads to cutting (and then piecing) on the bias to a greater or lesser extent, and therefore reduces one's ability to cut/piece precisely (due to the bias stretch). In this case I suspect whether you tear or not comes down to how much you value this kind of precision.
As an aside, anyone know what's happening with the Quilter's Academy 6th volume? The last info I can find says it was supposed to be released in spring 2018, but it hasn't been. I'm not anywhere there yet, I'd just like to have a complete set of the books.
Best,
Cena