i have asked my local shop to tare wide backing as i loose too much when they cut it - sometime as much as 10". While they say they add a bit, the double/double fold of wide backing is very difficult to cut accurately. I want it straight on both ends.

I've never seen a store rip fabric before. They've always cut it.

I like mine cut,I find that ripping often stretches and distorts the ripped edge. Sometimes you can see where they get off the straight of the fabric when cutting, I have asked if they would true the edge and one store was very...well not nice about it...I don't go there anymore.

Some LQS's do, some don't. The reasoning is that you will get a 'true' straight of grain. I, too prefer the cut method and don't go to the shop that rips very often. They won't cut even if you ask, but don't know if others will or not, but you could ask and find out.

Back in the day all yard goods were torm rather than cut. However, today there are so many different fibers and finishes that I think it makes it more difficult. I don't like the raggedy edges either, but either way the smallest measurement should be the measurement you asked for. A four inch difference is disgraceful and you should complain.

Our local quilt shop cuts the fabric...but there is a fabric store in our area that rips it....and I don't like it either.

Wow, TG&Y, that brings back memories. I pulled out some fabric not long ago that still had the pricetag from there. Maybe it's time I figured out what to make out of it.

I'd never go back to a store that tears. I bought some fabric online one time that had been torn (didn't know it till I got it).....It was crooked. I tried like the devil to get it to straighten up. It didn't -- I lost about 1/8th yard.....

My mother gave me a quilt she'd started -- a log cabin. She'd torn the strips. The strips had stripes in some of them...the fabric did NOT stay on the "grain" -- or the design wasn't on the grain. So -- had she not torn it, she could have adjusted and had her stripes show up straight on the quilt.....(is that as clear as mud????)

I have taken material back to stores because they cut it uneven... I don't like it but to me you get a more accurate cut of material.... Walmart is the worst on their cuts....
I guess it boils down to personal preference.........?

Walmart is the worst because they don't train the people . Then they conplain because the fabric dept doesn't show a profit. A little training goes a long way.