I have one quilt shop here in Denver that rips, and they go to great lenghts and tell you why they do it that way. They also make a speial point in noticing how the fabric is printed on and will make allowences for anything not printed correctly and even the freyed edges. I think that makes a big difference when shopping for fabric, why they do things differently and explain why.

It is my belief that "ripping" the fabric keeps the "rip" on the straight of grain. I, personally, would rather have it cut. However, it must be a time thing (very quick) and no scissors or rotary cutters needed. I am interested in the other comments regarding this.

I use to let the fabric store rip my fabric. I found that when the fabric is ripped I was cutting a lot more off to square up the fabric. I now ask them to cut my fabric instead. I do not like the rip method myself.

I would like to have my fabric torn rather than cut because you at least get what you pay for. Sometimes the clerk cuts so crooked that I lose several inches on one side of the fabric. I usually just press the "ragged" edge and cut 1/4" off and that takes care of the strings from tearing. Hope this helps. Cheers and keep on quilting!

Most places I go to use a rotary cutter to cut the fabric. However, while in Mississippi in the fall, I did encounter a quilt shop that ripped rather than cut. I was not a fan. Little strings of fabric were all over the "ripping" table, and their were string attached to every bolt of fabric all over the store.

It is nice to know the purpose of doing it, but I think I still prefer having them cut.

I find even if you rip the fabric, down the line you have to true it up again after cutting your strips off of it...now with backing I don't know except I always true up one side so to get it straight with my quilt top. When it is ripped I seem to have this wavy thing going on and don't like it!

I do remember when making garments it is a much bigger piece of fabric to deal with and you do need to know where the exact straight of grain is or your garment will come out twisted when washed after sewing it together. Even so I like a nice even cut, I like to watch very closely to see if it lines up before they cut, if not you can ask them to true it...some will some won't, just happens to be if they want my business or not. Some quilters I understand don't have but one quilt shop around and have to travel miles to get to the nearest one in the first place so must stick with what they do at that shop.

I bought 108" wide batik backing today and my LQS tore it, although they usually cut everything else. When I took a class from Harriet Hargrave she said she prefers tearing it because you get straight of grain. The problem is that fabric is rarely ever straight on the bolt, so it appears crooked when torn. I always allow extra when a shop tears it because it can be short when you go to work with it.

I definitely prefer to have mine cut. The tearing will distort the fabric. I don't go by how it has been cut when I begin to do my rotary cutting for a project, anyway. I always fold my fabric in half, putting selvedges together and letting the fabric hang down. I shift the selvedges back and forth slightly until the hanging fold is completely flat (no ripples at all). Then I lay the fabric down, with the fold at the bottom, and using the fold line as my guide for the bottom edge of my plexiglass rule, I cut a new edge, from the fold up to the selvedges. This is how I was shown when I first started quilting. Hope it makes sense.

30 years ago when I sold fabric we always tore it. You lose alot less fabric tearing than cutting.

Years ago when one had to take home ec, we had to pull a string the width of the fabric to find the strait of the grain. After cutting on that line, we had to stretch the fabric so the selvages would line up before we could place the pattern pieces.

Now days if your fabric is ripped then washted when you get it home it's already to go. And as a bonus, when you cut your strips on the grain, it won't have all those unraveled threads when you're working on your project.

Love it when it's ripped!