Stitchnripper

the people at the quilt store said that new Terial Magic is supposed to cut down on/eliminate as much as possible - fraying.
http://www.amazon.com/Terial-Arts-Ma...c+fabric+spray

I don't have any of this yet, and I don't work for them, or have any vested interest in the product. Just that they said it works on fraying.

NJ Quilter

I, too, would question if your fabric was initially cut on-grain. If not and you were cutting down your pre-cut pieces that would explain much of the fraying to me. I don't use pre-cuts so other than a guess, can't be sure. In future, try to find the straight of grain before starting your subcuts and you should have much less fraying.

ManiacQuilter2

I have gotten into the habit of starching everything before cutting. I would contact the manufactures and supply photos of the fraying. If they don't know there is a problem, they won't be able to correct it. Trim the edges carefully with a sharp pair of scissors.

Snooze2978

Didn't in the past but I now starch all my fabrics before I cut into them. I realized a wallhanging that I purchased the fabric kit made up of just 2.0 x 6.0 strips for I hadn't starched them for fear they would shrink too much and now all those seams are fraying big time so I put some of my Quilter's Moonshine into my spray bottle and sprayed the heck out of it on the backside, let it dry and then misted with water and pressed it. Now I go ahead and starch all fabrics whether they're in a kit or not so I don't have this issue again.

romanojg

starching is great but make sure you press, not iron. also be careful as to how much you are pulling or stretching, which starching will also help with too. What kind of fabric is it that frays so much.

romanojg

Terial Magic acts like a stablizer of sorts. I got it for my scan n cut and emb designs.

QuiltnLady1

I agree with a stiff starching. If the fraying is bad on the already sewn blocks I might run a second line of stitching about 1/16" from the first and a tighter stitch. I had to do this with some homespun fabric I used in a quilt because it raveled a lot. I also stay stitched the rest of the homespun blocks before including them in the quilt -- this about 1/8" from the edge.

rryder

I'm also a big fan of starching. It eliminates lots of problems- fraying, fabric distortion (if properly pressed), problems with bias edges, sewing issues, you name it. Most of the time I heavily starch my fabric before cutting, especially if there is any tricky piecing involved. I also like the feel of sewing with stiffer fabric-- I think the stitch quality is much improved and it's easier to get a good consistent quarter or scant quarter inch seam. Starch also works great as a temporary glue for cutting multiple layers at a time.

Rob

maviskw

I don't understand all the "press, don't iron" thing. If the fabric is still whole, it would be an impossible task to press the whole thing. Ironing won't hurt it until it is cut into smaller pieces. I have put marks on my ironing board cover showing where the 12.5 corners are, and line up my squares up to match those. They came in really handy when making the Scrapbasket block, as every edge was on the bias and I had to get the seams exactly into the corner. Worked very well.

twinkie

Although I have not used this product, maybe some of you members have. It is called FreyCheck (I think). It is supposed to stop or slow down freying.