cutting strips
05-07-2012, 01:24 PM
#11
Power Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: western NY formerly MN, FL, NC, SC
Posts: 51,433
Originally Posted by Helen S
...
I've found that even the very best quilt shop fabrics are not cut on the straight of the grain, so EVERY piece I buy goes directly into the washer and dryer before I do anything else. EVERY piece! Some are off as much as a couple of inches, while others are off by fractions, but still...they are ALL off.
AND, what IF you don't wash and dry them and they shrink after your quilt is all beautifully done if you haven't heavily quilted it? I shudder to think of what the outcome would be and I don't want my quilts to look puckered up after all that work.
I've found that even the very best quilt shop fabrics are not cut on the straight of the grain, so EVERY piece I buy goes directly into the washer and dryer before I do anything else. EVERY piece! Some are off as much as a couple of inches, while others are off by fractions, but still...they are ALL off.
AND, what IF you don't wash and dry them and they shrink after your quilt is all beautifully done if you haven't heavily quilted it? I shudder to think of what the outcome would be and I don't want my quilts to look puckered up after all that work.
05-07-2012, 01:56 PM
#12
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Central NJ
Posts: 5,570
Originally Posted by Helen S
The instructor in the class I took earlier this year said today's fabrics are straight enough to not worry about it, but I've found differently. Out of a hundred or so pieces of fabric I've bought in the past six months, only ONE of them was cut on the grain!
I've found that even the very best quilt shop fabrics are not cut on the straight of the grain, so EVERY piece I buy goes directly into the washer and dryer before I do anything else. EVERY piece! Some are off as much as a couple of inches, while others are off by fractions, but still...they are ALL off.
AND, what IF you don't wash and dry them and they shrink after your quilt is all beautifully done if you haven't heavily quilted it? I shudder to think of what the outcome would be and I don't want my quilts to look puckered up after all that work.
I've found that even the very best quilt shop fabrics are not cut on the straight of the grain, so EVERY piece I buy goes directly into the washer and dryer before I do anything else. EVERY piece! Some are off as much as a couple of inches, while others are off by fractions, but still...they are ALL off.
AND, what IF you don't wash and dry them and they shrink after your quilt is all beautifully done if you haven't heavily quilted it? I shudder to think of what the outcome would be and I don't want my quilts to look puckered up after all that work.
Pulling threads to find straight with quilting cottons is just torturous. And that's how I learned to get to straight edges as well. I'll do it home dec fabs but not quilting cotton. I pre-wash / dry / iron with starch and refold. Then use my 24 in. ruler and go for the gusto. My feeling is that my piecing is not accurate enough to have the 2-3 threads that may not be straight to be a factor.
05-07-2012, 02:16 PM
#13
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Texas
Posts: 5,500
I would recommend the June Taylor Shape Cut Ruler. Others have recommended it also, I see, but I want to re-recommend it. I could not possible cut straight strips without it. I did have to be shown how to fold the fabric before I understood how to use it, but once I learned that, I would not turn back. I cut with confidence now, and I did not before. I am fairly new to quilting thought, so that may make a difference in that I don't have years and years experience with another method of cutting strips.
Dina
Dina
05-07-2012, 02:22 PM
#14
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
Fabrics shrink differently when washed alone compared to being washed as part of a quilt. Quilting binds the fabric to the batting. When there is enough quilting, the batting controls the fabric shrinkage. In other words, the fabrics cannot shrink more than the batting shrinks.
How much is enough quilting? Not sure. Certainly doing SID quilting around 12" blocks is not enough quilting to prevent uneven fabric shrinkage in a quilt. In my experience, a large meander is sufficient quilting. I do not consider this to be heavy quilting; just moderate quilting.
I was fortunate enough to be able to take a class from Harriet Hargrave years ago. HH advocates not pre-washing fabric, although she does advocate pre-testing every fabric for color fastness before using it in a quilt. She brought a flannel quilt she had made as proof of the shrinkage thing, because flannels shrink more than other fabrics and also shrink in different amounts among themselves. She made a quilt out of unwashed flannel, quilted it, measured it, washed it, and measured it again. It shrank about 3%, the amount that the batting was supposed to shrink. It did not shrink the horrific 10% or 20% one might expect from unwashed flannel. And the quilt was beautiful.
The same thing applies to grain. You could make a quilt out of squares that all had bias edges IF you could keep those bias edges from stretching and distorting while working with them. I find that heavily starching fabric before cutting is enough to keep even bias-cut strips from distorting while I am sewing. Once they are in the quilt and become part of the "quilt sandwich" by means of the quilting, anything off-grain is not going to be affected by washing. Again, there has to be "enough" quilting for this to work, and I would estimate "enough" at a large meander.
I do not pre-wash fabrics. I do not bother to straighten grain on fabrics before cutting. However, I do test for color fastness of suspicious fabrics before using them in a quilt, and I am careful to cut fabric at a strict 90-degree angle to a fold. This approach may not be for everyone, but it saves me tons of time and makes quilting a lot more fun for me!
How much is enough quilting? Not sure. Certainly doing SID quilting around 12" blocks is not enough quilting to prevent uneven fabric shrinkage in a quilt. In my experience, a large meander is sufficient quilting. I do not consider this to be heavy quilting; just moderate quilting.
I was fortunate enough to be able to take a class from Harriet Hargrave years ago. HH advocates not pre-washing fabric, although she does advocate pre-testing every fabric for color fastness before using it in a quilt. She brought a flannel quilt she had made as proof of the shrinkage thing, because flannels shrink more than other fabrics and also shrink in different amounts among themselves. She made a quilt out of unwashed flannel, quilted it, measured it, washed it, and measured it again. It shrank about 3%, the amount that the batting was supposed to shrink. It did not shrink the horrific 10% or 20% one might expect from unwashed flannel. And the quilt was beautiful.
The same thing applies to grain. You could make a quilt out of squares that all had bias edges IF you could keep those bias edges from stretching and distorting while working with them. I find that heavily starching fabric before cutting is enough to keep even bias-cut strips from distorting while I am sewing. Once they are in the quilt and become part of the "quilt sandwich" by means of the quilting, anything off-grain is not going to be affected by washing. Again, there has to be "enough" quilting for this to work, and I would estimate "enough" at a large meander.
I do not pre-wash fabrics. I do not bother to straighten grain on fabrics before cutting. However, I do test for color fastness of suspicious fabrics before using them in a quilt, and I am careful to cut fabric at a strict 90-degree angle to a fold. This approach may not be for everyone, but it saves me tons of time and makes quilting a lot more fun for me!
05-07-2012, 04:03 PM
#15
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 4,829
[QUOTE=Helen S;5200408]
I've found that even the very best quilt shop fabrics are not cut on the straight of the grain, so EVERY piece I buy goes directly into the washer and dryer before I do anything else. EVERY piece! Some are off as much as a couple of inches, while others are off by fractions, but still...they are ALL off.
The problem stems from the way the fabric is rolled onto the boards at the factory. I'm sure they don't go to the trouble of lining up the grain line before they roll them. In fact, it probably saves some wear and tear on the fold in transport. I always wash my fabric before cutting it up, because I don't like the thought of critters or dirt being in it. Also, I don't like the chemicals left on the fabric from the finishing.
I've found that even the very best quilt shop fabrics are not cut on the straight of the grain, so EVERY piece I buy goes directly into the washer and dryer before I do anything else. EVERY piece! Some are off as much as a couple of inches, while others are off by fractions, but still...they are ALL off.
The problem stems from the way the fabric is rolled onto the boards at the factory. I'm sure they don't go to the trouble of lining up the grain line before they roll them. In fact, it probably saves some wear and tear on the fold in transport. I always wash my fabric before cutting it up, because I don't like the thought of critters or dirt being in it. Also, I don't like the chemicals left on the fabric from the finishing.
05-07-2012, 04:24 PM
#16
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Michigan. . .FINALLY!!!!
Posts: 6,726
Originally Posted by Prism99
Use a June Tailor Shape Cut Plus ruler. Here is a link to one on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/June-Tailor-12...dp/B0001DUMTA/
All you need to do is line up the fold of the fabric with a line on the ruler. The smaller Shape Cut is not as good because you need to fold the fabric twice and line up both folds. With this ruler, you can stack fabrics as long as the folds are lined up an equal distance from each other and at least one of the folds lines up with a line on the ruler.
The slots really help with keeping the cuts straight. What determines whether or not you get the dreaded "V" in a strip is how accurate you are cutting 90 degrees from the fold. It actually has nothing to do with pulling threads or cutting on the straight grain of a fabric. You can cut straight bias strips from fabric -- which is about as far from on-grain as you can get!
Edit: I should add that cutting exactly on the grain is not actually that important for quilting. The only reason to be concerned about grain is if your strips are going to distort while you are sewing and ironing. If I heavily starch fabric before cutting, I find that even totally bias cut strips do not distort on me while I work with them. Grainlines are much more important when sewing clothing, as it affects the drape of the clothing.
http://www.amazon.com/June-Tailor-12...dp/B0001DUMTA/
All you need to do is line up the fold of the fabric with a line on the ruler. The smaller Shape Cut is not as good because you need to fold the fabric twice and line up both folds. With this ruler, you can stack fabrics as long as the folds are lined up an equal distance from each other and at least one of the folds lines up with a line on the ruler.
The slots really help with keeping the cuts straight. What determines whether or not you get the dreaded "V" in a strip is how accurate you are cutting 90 degrees from the fold. It actually has nothing to do with pulling threads or cutting on the straight grain of a fabric. You can cut straight bias strips from fabric -- which is about as far from on-grain as you can get!
Edit: I should add that cutting exactly on the grain is not actually that important for quilting. The only reason to be concerned about grain is if your strips are going to distort while you are sewing and ironing. If I heavily starch fabric before cutting, I find that even totally bias cut strips do not distort on me while I work with them. Grainlines are much more important when sewing clothing, as it affects the drape of the clothing.
Last edited by auntpiggylpn; 05-07-2012 at 04:27 PM.
05-07-2012, 05:13 PM
#19
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Southern California
Posts: 6,254
Keep in mind the large one only cuts 2 1/2" while the small ones cut in 1/2 in increments. Its not that hard to fold fabric to get the advantages of more increments. I use it all the time and have not had a hard time folding fabric
05-07-2012, 05:15 PM
#20
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Southern California
Posts: 6,254
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Sandygirl
Links and Resources
20
06-29-2012 11:40 AM
craftybear
Links and Resources
1
08-10-2011 12:37 PM
justflyingin
Main
37
04-19-2011 08:43 PM
nevrn
Main
3
02-05-2011 09:42 AM
