marcei

hi. i'm looking for help cutting plaid shirting fabric. I made a cut yesterday with a rotary cutter and it went very wavy. can anyone help me?

nativetexan

well, you might try starching the fabric. that should help. if you place your ruler on the fabric and don't let it move, all should be well also. Good luck.

Tartan

Yes, starch and iron for a firmer fabric. If you are talking about keeping the plaid pattern perfect in your cut pieces, good luck! You can either over cut your pieces and trim or embrace the plaid pattern being wonky and use them anyway. Plaid patterns going every which way, can look very fun on some patterns.

feline fanatic

I suspect your cut was not wavy but the plaid print is not on the straight of grain or printed straight (a common problem) which gave the illusion of your cut being wavy. Try tugging your fabric on the two corners diagonal from each other (on the bias) to straighten things up. This will help if it is a woven plaid. However if it is a print there isn't much you can do unless you painstakingly try to line up your rule with the plaid design, but if is way off you may end cutting partially on the bias.

Depending on how small you will be cutting down your plaid, it may not be necessary as the smaller units will make the wavy illusion less obvious.

Nammie to 7

I've found plaids difficult to work with for all those reasons.

PaperPrincess

If the plaid is woven, you can tear it. If it is printed, your only hope is starch!