:idea: A question for you all. When I was very young (will not say how long ago that was) and took Home Ec. I was taught that you should pull the crosswise threads on the material to straighten it. I have been doing this for a long time and I am now thinking that maybe I don't have to do this for my quilt fabrics. Does anyone else pull threads to straighten fabric? :)

I don't pull mine. But I remember when I was in junior high school we did that but I couldn't tell you why. But I do remember doing that.

I learned that too! I don't do it too much, but sometimes it still helps.

We did that in HomeEc class to. At the time I thought it was a waste of time but, the teacher said "you needed to find the true grain of the fabric so it would hang properly." All I can say now is, I'm glad I don't have to do that with my quilting fabric, way too time consuming.

Don't see what it could hurt. In fact, with some fabric I've had, it was a must!

only if necessary. if i buy a panal or some fabric that is very obviously 'off-grain' i pull a thread and straighten, most of the time i don't worry about it ...it doesn't seem as important cutting quilt squares as it was cutting out a sleeve. :thumbup:

Maybe has to do with fabric quality? I think fabric has improved greatly over the last 20-30 years. :)

I remember it too. By the time I made an elastic waist skirt consisting of two rectangles sewn together and a casing put in during Home Ec, I'd already made a winter coat at home. The whole "pull the thread" thing was as ridiculous then as it is now. I did it that once in class, never again.

And how does one do that?

Funny you bring this up , I just did this last night on a piece that was cut REALLY off grain. Getting back to the true grain helps to cut straight strips , without the V or W. If I am working with long strip sets it really helps them from getting curvy.
If I am in a rush I tear some fabrics to get to the true straight.

How do you do it?

Make a small cut into the selvage edge, enough to "expose" the weave or threads. Take one of the threads that runs accross the fabric width and pull it out. Because the thread or fiber is secured at the opposite selvage , it will gather up , you can pull till it breaks pulling out that thread leaving a line, then cut on that line till you reached the point where the thread broke and pull it again. On printed fabrics just pulling a little and working the gather across the fabric will take that printed thread and it will be noticable because that printed thread thread will not be in the same place in the print . If you saw this done once its a whole lot easier than trying to write it to explain.
NOTE: do not use this method on most batiks, way too tightly woven, it will just make you crazy. In this case if a batik is really off grain ... I let er rip! to straighen.

I was taught a quick method to straighten grain. Simply pull on the bias of the fabric from one corner to the other. Do it both ways. Then when folding to cut you can see the "drape" if it was not cut straight. Then, with selvedges matched I move one cut end over until the fabric hangs straight when folded. This keeps my cut strips nice and straight with no dog legs. I was never taught the pull a thread method but it does sound like it could come in handy on some fabrics where you really need the straight of grain.

It is VERY important to cut clothing fabric on grain, and pulling threads is the easiest way to accomplish that. If the pieces are cut with the grain running wrong the garment will not hang right, and if any directional elements are present it won't look right either.

I have done it with quilting fabric that was really off grain, but not often. The pieces we use for quilting don't have to "hang", and they are smaller. We can fussy cut if we're concerned about matching stripes or plaids or other design elements. And even if the grain is off a little, the cut will not be on a serious bias, so it is usually okay. When we line up the selvages, we are trying to put the fabric on grain, and that is usually enough for quilting.

Dang! I took auto repair :lol:
David

Thanks for the explanations. I'll have to try it and see what happens. If I learned that back in sewing class I have forgotten!

Don't feel bad, David. I took band! lol

I remember spending lots of time helping my mom pull fabric to get straight of grain. Now there is so much sizing in the fabric that you really must wash it first before pulling. Then, if you are cutting strips you end up losing a lot of fabric because it was not cut on grain. I agree that if it's for pieces, it is not quite as important.

tearing fabric is recommended by Harriet Hargrave and while you loose fabric in the process - it is amazing how far off some fabrics are.

I started a quilt club last year, and one of the first people to come was a retired Home Ec teacher. She had to pull threads to straighten her fabric. I'm sure she shuddered whenever I told them just to cut and not straighten the fabric. Needless to say, she didn't last very long.

What do you do when a fabric was printed way off kilter? I have an old piece from my moms stash (she made a baby blanket for my 27 year old from it) that is so terrible off that my only hope to use it is to fussy cut it. She used it whole and hand quilted around the designs. So she obviously had another piece of it that was "right".

Hadn't even thought of that in years.

I have done both. Sometimes I do the corner stretching bit if the fabric looks really wonky. I do it when I am ironing it. It is very important in apparel and home dec sewing to find the true straight of grain or your clothes or drapes won't hang straight, but not so important in quilting since you are usually dealing with short pieces of fabric and cross grains. Most of our quilting fabrics have printed designs rather than woven designs so the straight grain doesn't really matter.

Yeah, and I wanted wood shop for girls and they wouldn't let us; said it was too dangerous. Even went to the principal with a petition signed by a bunch of girls; he took it to the school board and we were turned down. The following year when the new school opened, I understand the boys took a semester of home ec and the girls got a year of wood shop.

I don't straighten fabric unless I'm making clothing or curtains. And I remember pulling threads, too.

I pull 2 threads so I can see it when I cut it. There are some fabrics that are so tight that you really can't pull a thread. I have a cutting mat that I attached a ruler right on the line of the mat with hot glue gun and duck tape the ends. I just slide the fabric under the ruler line it up and cut it.

I pulled the thread whenever I made shear curtains. That was the only way to get a straight line for cutting that quantity of yardage.

I have done all of those methods for straightening the grain. I am also fond of tearing.

However, for quilting, I find it is more important to pay attention to the fold, and be sure that you have lined up one line on your ruler for that. That way, when you cut across the grain, you will have a straight cut, and not a 'V' when you open out the fabric.

I use bias cuts frequently and never have a problem. I think it is more important to cut accurately than for the fabric to be perfectly on grain.

We were taught that too ... and I have never used it in quilting :)

I had one fabulous week of a class with John Willard - "spontaneous geometrics" - and he showed us how he will often cut which ever way the geometric design he is going for, is laid out on the fabric. Sometimes straight width of fabric, sometimes on the diagonal bias, sometimes just off straight.

Most of my creations are from width of fabric cuts, so I do work on getting a good straight edge without 'v'. But I'm prepared to cut at whatever angle I need, to get the right effect :)

This is the way I do it too. I was also taught to pull a thread but never used it. Way too much trouble.

I don't pull threads, but still tear all my cotton to get the straight grain. Yes some things to stick that you learn in High School. It was a must when I made all my family clothes.

I was just in a class the other day and the instructor said to do this for quilts too. Especially the sashing. Her example was that if you made a skirt and didn't cut it straight on the grain it would sag and have a wavy hem. It made sense to me. You do need more fabric to do it this way.

I always cut on the straight of grain when making clothes, but don't pay much attention to that when quilting. I'd rather have the print straight than the grain since the print is what people will see first.

I pull mine when I think about it :oops: It seems I pull more on fat quarters than anything else. Maybe that's because I don't want to waste any!

I've heard of this method also and have tried it on yardage and it works.
However, harder to do on a FQ. Don't you think? I usually eyeball it on
smaller pieces. And if my fabric is well starched it's usually not a problem.

I picked up a big bag of fabric scraps at a thrift store for a pittance, some of the pieces were left over sewing scraps, with curves along the edge-maybe a sleeve cut out I pulled a thread to get a straight line to reference. I also learned that in home Ec, and do it on the rare occasion. Grain can be important, though not as important as in clothing sewing.

LOL; i took auto shop too. About 3 girls in the whole school did.

That's ok David, I took drafting, painting and decorating, and woodworking. As a homeowner, I've used them all! As a quilter, drafting has come in really handy.
And I was one of the first girls in my school to take shop!
Forget Home Ec, bring on the power tools!

I tear across for straight grain---MUCH faster! If you pull the fabric to straighten after pulling a thread as I was taught, it just goes back to wonky when you wash it---ruined a wall hanging I tried that with when my DD washed it.

I don't do that in general and for any mottled patterns, I find it doesn't matter by the time you cut the smaller bits. However, I do pay attention when I deal with a patterned fabric. It is nice to have the pattern not be wonky.