Barb in Louisiana

I totally agree with Jan. Quilting is about small pieces of fabric. There is no need to make sure the fabric is straight with the grain. For those that don't know, this means you have a good 45 degree angle between the selvedge and the ripped edge. (Edited to add) I do cut most of my borders, especially if they are more than 3 inches wide, on the straight grain of fabric which means with the selvedge edge. Width of fabric will almost always give me a wavy border, no matter how much I measure and pin to keep it even.

Now, if I were making a dress and it had to hang straight, then I would consider ripping the fabric, if it was woven, to make sure the grain is straight. All it does for quilting is to damage part of the fabric. And...guess what??? Almost none of the fabric is straight these days. But, then you get the pleasure of stretching it into shape. I remember those days. I loved it when knit came along and no more stretching was needed. And it is so much more comfy...especially to those of us with our figures moving around.

Macybaby

I'm fine with them ripping when I buy - provided they are generous as I've had too many fabrics damaged up to 1/2" from the rip - very noticeable in some prints, not so noticeable with solids.

I don't worry about straightening fabric I'm going to cut into pieces. I will straighten backing, and do rip that to get SOG, and then mount on my LA and roll back and forth a few times and that does a great job evening it out before I start quilting.

I use to sew garments, and did a lot of pulling to get fabric lined up. That was always done after prewashing. However often I did not want to waste fabric, so I pulled a thread and cut along that to get SOG.

I prewash all my quilting fabric. Take it out of the dryer and line up the selvage for about a yard, then hold it up with a finger between the edges, and slide one side over until the fold hangs with no ripples. If I've got yardage, I'll work my way down until it's all folded in half, then fold it up from there. The plan was to take it upstairs and ruler fold it, but my folding has not kept up with my purchasing.

rryder

I always rip fabric for my borders and backs, unless I'm doing pieced border. If I'm using a wide backing fabric then I will wash it first and then rip it since wide backings sometimes shrink a fair amount. I've found that when I rip for long borders or backs I don't have any problems with wavy borders. You don't lose much to raveling unless you're trying to rip some very loosely woven fabrics like homespuns.

It's a fast way to get a perfectly straight, long "cut" from yardage. If the piece is a cotton quilting fabric or cotton backing fabric then I have no problems ripping along both the cross grain and the straight of grain (parallel to the selvages). The secret is to use your scissors to make a 1 to 2 inch cut from the edge of the fabric and then rip fast. I've been doing this for years and have had no problems with it damaging the fabric.

Don't try to slowly tear, that is more likely to cause bunching of threads along the edge which is a pain to straighten out, though it can be fixed, just takes more time.

Also, I don't generally tear home dec fabrics, fabrics with lots of texture or specialty weaves as they will often not tear easily.

Rob

QuiltnLady1

I too tear my fabric for borders, binding and backing. For my sashing narrow sashings, I pull a thread so I have them on the straight of grain. I always like to have use straight of grain for the long pieces. After a bad experience, I do prewash and starch. I also prewash the W&N batting since I like the quilts to be flatter.

Genden

I was taught to find the straight of grain to pull a thread across the width of the fabric. Because often fabric is not printed on grain, I usually go with keeping the print straight. If straight of grain is important, I pull a thread.

Crafty Grandma

Ok so it looks like ripping is old school , I was ripping because that's what my grandmother taught me to do. Thanks everyone for you help, will save a lot of time

kittiebug

I do rip , so far so good.