Realigning Fabric
 

So, I am very new to quilting. I have made hot pads and paper pieced some log cabin coasters. I am working out of a new book called Quilter's Academy. It is actually a series of 5 books the teach you about piecing quilt tops. (There is a separate book for the quilting part). The instructions tell you before you start that you are to tear a 2 1/2 inch strip from each edge of your fabric (That's 5 inches) to realign the fabric and then iron and starch to create a new center fold. I had never heard of this before. I feel like I am wasting fabric when I do this. Does anyone ever do this and is it necessary? Thanks in advance!!

I've never heard that before. I don't think you need to do it with quilt shop quality fabric. I do cut my selvages off - I cut 1.5" on the printed side and save them for projects, and about 0.5" off the other end. Then I iron and square up along those cut sides.

way back when, when we sewed fashion, we made sure we had straight grain. Doing this for quilting, is indeed a waste of fabric. I use the fold as my point of reference, and if you cut with your ruler lined up along the fold, you will have straight cuts. There is a wealth of knowledge on this site! Keep asking questions! I'm so happy to welcome you to the quilting community!

I do tear a new edge typically after I've washed the fabric. The yardage is generally so badly cut/folded on the bolt that I rarely get anything close to a straight cut. I figure out the low side and snip about 1/2" from the edge, typically I get about 2" off on the long side. I don't starch, but my prepared fabric is crisp and folded into fourths and ready to be cut into strips. I used to leave the corresponding raw edge ragged but over the years I've gotten fussy and cut/tear off both ends.

It can make a person angry if they let it, the terrible bad cuts we get, again it isn't all the cutter's fault though, some of it is how it is on the bolt. And don't get me started on how awful I've found store cut fat quarters... But yeah, if I have two ends both 4" off, that's 8" or an 8th of a yard of loss which is just not money nor fabric I wish to throw away but neither is it usable to me. 2.5" seems excessive, you do need about half an inch to start for a good tear, and then I cut off about 1/4" with the rotary cutter to take off the warp from the tear. I've started buying an additional half yard of extra wide backing fabric because I'm tired of not having enough after you take care of the bad cuts.

I'm big on being straight on grain because that was what I was taught in Home Ec back in the day... how to pull a strand and then cut along it. The reality is that it doesn't matter so much really, at least depending on what you are doing. I will fussy cut fabric with no regard at all to grain line. The grain can and does matter on bias edges, some people have more problems with bias than I seem to.

If you are really fussy, you should know that tearing isn't enough! With the high speed processes during the process both in the initial weaving and again in the folding and putting on the bolt, the fabric can be twisted or skewed. So your selvedges can be straight and true or the tear line, but not both. In those cases most of us just pick a good compromise, or you can tug on the fabric from the opposite diagonal/bias corners and straighten the fabric.

The big thing is when you cut your first strip from your prepared fabric is to unfold it and look at it. It should be straight with no big V at the fold line. I check my strips about every 3-5 cuts to make sure I'm still cutting straight and the fabric is still straight.

On the downside of being correct with grain is I seem to be covered in a lot more threads than people who are deliberately slightly skewed!

I should add... as a scrap quilter, I never throw any odd pieces of fabric out! You just might be able to use it another time!

I am a pre-washer of all yardage (not pre-cuts though). With the pre-washing comes the task of ironing and refolding the fabric. I iron the fabric flat, then I align my selvedges and wiggle them side to side so the 'bubble' at the bottom fold goes away. I then smooth from the fold to the selvedge edge then iron. That generally leaves you with uneven side edges. I trim one side to get a straight side and that is where I then do my subsequent measuring and cutting. Honestly, it probably does equate to about 2.5 inches per side in the long run.

Like Iceblossom, starting with your fabric on grain was a learned habit from garment sewing days in both home ec classes as well as from my grandmother. And while there are many quilters who do not worry so much about grain, I feel it makes your seams less likely to ravel/shred.

I'm with s..faye. I place the ruler line on the fold and trim the leading edge and then also on the WOFs. I almost never get a v-cut strip.

What the book is talking about is getting the fabric straight on the grain so that any cuts you make will be straight with the proper balance. If the grain is not straight the fabric can bunch up from the bias side or if you are cutting long strips and the fabric is folded in 1/2 you may find an uneven hump at the fold when you open you cut pieces. It is an old habit from dressmaking days to straighten the fabric. I still do it with my quilting fabrics. Especially when I prewash my fabrics. Now I don't cut off 2" since I am hopeful that my grain is not that far off. But it could be off by 2" on one side and only 1/4" to the other side which is why you straighten it. I will line the salvages edges first so I have a visual straightening before I lay it down make a notch and then tear it across. The more difficult part is making sure you keep the fold straight and press it flat. Pinning helps.
Now do I do this all the time no. I do how ever because I am a bit OCD do it more than 50% of the time. Ligning it up on the grain makes for a much nicer block when squaring up your pieces and your blocks.

100% agree. And prints particularly plaids and stripes are seldom printed with the straight of the grain so ripping to get the straight of the grain precise would be no help at all. Also ripping leaves you with a bruised edge that still needs to be trimmed off.

welcome to the board! I've been quilting since dirt was new and still learn stuff every day. Part of the joy of being a quilter.

Welcome to the Quilting Board! Are these recently published books or are they "older" books by Harriet Hargrave? I just wonder as methods have progressed quite a bit since I started to quilt in 1993.

First, I want to admit that I am not a pre-washer of my fabric. I tried it and the mess and dealing with all that fabric and the strings was just horrible. I lost several inches. So, pre-washing is such a personal preference. Yes, I have had fabric run after the fact and I just fight it with color catchers.

If you tear your fabric, regardless of whether you wash it or not, you will lose a lot more than you will gain by having it on the straight of grain. Think about it....Our pieces are so small that it just does not matter.

I do iron the center fold. Often the original fold has extra bumps or lumps and that will never make a straight strip. If I am cutting a long border, I will cut it so that the print is straight for my border. So, if I am cutting a little bit on the bias, I just don't care. I have gotten smarter, and try not to make a border out of a fabric that has to be lined up accurately for the borders to look good.

Edited to add: Now, if you decide to use your cotton fabric to make a gathered skirt or even a blouse, getting the fabric straight can make or break your project. These type of projects do not have a backing or padding in them and stitched together to make them stay straight. They hang like you cut them. Cutting the front part of a blouse on the bias could give you some interesting saggy parts. The same goes for a skirt. So the advice about straightening by tearing or pulling a thread should be followed.

I always tear my fabric to get straight grain when making pillowcases--have heard so many complaints about pillowcases getting all warped up. My grans enjoy their pillowcases I make. Other smaller craft project, I do not try to straighten as they are stitched very close.

Yes, these are Harriet Hargraves Quilters Academy books.

I do as NJ Quilter does and even if for some reason I don't pre-wash it first, I always straighten the grain and then make the first cut to get a straight edge.

Leah Day has a very good video on this on her YouTube channel.

Watson

Hi!

I'm also pretty new and going through the Quilter's Academy books (vol 1 at the moment). I also got really hung up on this tearing of fabric topic

Because I tend to procrastinate study in forums, Insta, and books more than I actually quilt, this is my newbie opinion about this. :)

Harriet Hargrave is a very opinionated, meticulous quilter. While the argument can certainly be made that, for the size of most quilt pieces, being perfectly on grain isn't terribly important, my understanding is that off-grain fabric leads to cutting (and then piecing) on the bias to a greater or lesser extent, and therefore reduces one's ability to cut/piece precisely (due to the bias stretch). In this case I suspect whether you tear or not comes down to how much you value this kind of precision.

As an aside, anyone know what's happening with the Quilter's Academy 6th volume? The last info I can find says it was supposed to be released in spring 2018, but it hasn't been. I'm not anywhere there yet, I'd just like to have a complete set of the books.

Best,
Cena

I messaged Farm Stand Quilt Shop which is Harriet and Carrie Hargraves page and they due to some changes in their lives recently they did not get it out yet. They are still working on Volume 6 and hope to have it out in the next year. How have you adjusted to this issue? Also what do you think of the steam and starch part? Let me know please!

I always pre wash fabrics as soon as I bring them home. I have a different method for cutting fabric. After 400 -500 quilts it seems to work for me.

Welcome to this site.

I line up the selvage edges and slide them until the fold hangs straight and give it a quick press. I will then cut my first strip, open it up and see if it is straight before I move on. If it is not, you will be able to see at the fold if it is going a little wonky. I am not a pre-washer.

Thanks for finding that out! It was driving me a little crazy. I might be done with vol. 1 by then. :)

Do you mean have I torn any fabric yet? Well - no, but! I'm planning to blog my journey through the QA books, beginning as soon as I finish this one quilt from a class I took locally. So I've actually bought some fabric I don't care that much about just so I can tear it painlessly.

I use starch, but have not used steam. This is mostly because when I really decided to go whole hog into quilting, I needed a new iron. I got a Rowenta, which apparently has issues with leaking water. So I decided I'd just run it 'dry' rather than worry about that.

That said, I've also tried 'Best Press', which is a 'starch alternative' that seems pretty popular, but I found it about the equivalent of expensive water. Starch stiffens up the fabric and makes it easier to cut and piece, in my limited opinion. I got turned on to starch first not via the QA books but another one called "Mastering Precision Piecing" by Sally Collins.

I recently ordered a wool pressing mat, although I haven't gotten it yet to try out. And finally, because I am a huge nerd, I tracked down and ordered a book called "Press for Success", by Myrna Giesbrecht ,which is supposed to be the last word in pressing. I'm the life of the party, I tell ya! :D

How about you - are you starching or steaming (or both)?

I use a very hot iron (cotton to linen setting) with steam, no starch. If I need it, I also have a spritzing bottle of water. While I consider preparing my fabric and pressing during the creation to be vital to my process, there are few things I hate more in life than having to iron large pieces of yardage. I'm not big on ironing at any time but piecing a quilt back is not one of my happy times.

As a prewasher, the big thing is to snatch them out of the dryer just before being dry to the bone.

I have been trying to work on the 1st project in Quilters Academy Book 1. I started out using the steam and starch and following the directions but my pieces were ending up curved and I didnt care for the cardboard like feel. So, I decided to start all over. I didnt tear the fabric again. but recut my strips etc. I was using an almost 29 year old iron that was spitting out water and leaking big time. So I went and bought a new iron and an extra wide ironing board. (I was using a mat that you use one side to press and the other to cut for pressing). I did buy a Rowenta iron, the box says it does not leak. I only used the steam and starch to prep the fabric. And pressed dry. I am still really struggling. I got one set of strips to come out right. The ones with the dark to the outside, but the ones with the dark in the middle (pressing to the dark) are still not the right finished size. I cant tell you how many times I have ripped and resewed. I am beyond frustrated! So, I contacted a local gal that I have talked to about quilting before and who advised me to start with Eleanor Burns Log Cabin quilt. I am going to meet up with her this afternoon and take my fabric to her and she is going to help me get started on the Burns Log Cabin Quilt. I am also going to have her look at the strip that I was working on and see if she can figure out why it isn't coming out. Not fond of switching gears, but I have done it before. I may come back to the quilters academy down the line. Not sure yet.

I would not tear 2.5 inches from each end. It is not necessary. Tear only on the edge where you will be cutting, 1/2 or an inch maybe. I tear only when I am making strips for binding as this keeps my binding from twisting. But do keep checking to be sure that your cuts are straight.

It's so interesting to me, as a newbie, the dividing lines in the 'quilting community'; prewash vs. no prewash, starch vs steam, tearing vs cutting. I'm sure there's more, but I can only read so much a day. :) Another example is your own, @Iceblossom - you posted in a different thread about pressing your seams open (vs. to the dark or whatever). In the seams example, you provided a convincing opinion and link to read further. I love that kind of thing! I don't have enough practical experience to really have an opinion, but as a beginner with an engineering mind, the 'pressing seams (not open) is a holdover from hand-stitching' seems a reasonable and compelling argument. Do you have reasons for preferring steam to starch?

@kkranig I'm sorry to hear how frustrated you are! Do you think it's an issue with the process as detailed in Quilter's Academy, or something else? You know, I've only found a few people online who've talked about working their way through the books, and to a person, they got partially through and then mysteriously vanished off the face of the earth (or their blog, at least). It made me wonder if Quilter's Academy is actually killing people, or just driving them insane, ha. I hope things go well for you this afternoon, and you'll let us know how it went!

Please don't get discouraged. New techniques are discovered all the time by people who don't follow the "rules". I started quilting and was using steam but found that it was changing my fabric and stretching it. I don't pre-wash, so there is no need to starch before I cut. The sizing keeps the fabric moderately stable.

After realizing that the steam was what was making my good block go bad....seams would move sideways, size would change, I decided to try the dry iron. It was a miracle for me.

Also, if you are a new quilter and sewer, I would suggest you do a simple quilt. Something like cut squares of fabric (could be anywhere from 3 inches to 10 inches, your choice) and arrange them pleasingly, then sew them together in rows, then sew the rows together. This will help you practice your 1/4 inch and this type quilt is very forgiving. As long as all your seams are the same you will get a good product and will feel very successful. That means a lot to me. If you start off having trouble matching your seams, then offset your blocks as in a brick wall type appearance.

This website uses rectangles to achieve the brick wall look. https://www.instructables.com/id/Wor...ck-Wall-Quilt/

Edited to add: Just saw that you had been doing some mug rugs and some paper piecing. The pattern I suggested is probably way too easy for you.
Good luck and remember, that we quilters as a whole are our own worst critics.

I prefer the steam to starch to get seams, etc to lay flat because I don't like the feel of the starch. I have been doing the dry iron and only steam when absolutely necessary. I am going to try best press in the fabric prep process. I personally think that Quilter's Academy is not good for someone just starting out. She is very precise and if you are not fond of the starch and how stiff it makes things, then you may not like Quilters Academy. I think the Quilters Academy books would be good for an experienced quilter that wants to hone their skill, but I don't think its good for newbies. I met with the gal and we worked on pressing, cutting and even sewing. We just used scraps she had and started working sewing blocks together the Eleanor Burns way and I ended up with 3 blocks completed (We weren't using exact length of strips.) I am going to make them into a table runner. I am also going to make 2 more of these quilts for the practice. A lot of people have told me to start with her quilts. She has a very fast and very quick way of making her blocks. I ordered a few more of her books and I am going to stick with her for a while before I decide to move on. Because her patterns are very simple and forgiving, it will give me time to practice my cutting and 1/4 seam skills, while still making something productive. I feel much better and not so frustrated! Meeting with this gal really helped.

Because I'm self-taught, I didn't know about starch for decades. I've tried it, I've examined the fabric of my friends who use starch, and they've examined my fabric. Most people are surprised to find that my fabric is prewashed and only ironed with no starch. Maybe I hate the ironing part because I'm so picky, but my fabric is crisp at the end of the process.

I don't like the smell or feel of any of the commercial products, some of my friends home concoctions are ok. Mostly vodka and water?? I just use water...

I typically have a short turn around between cutting and piecing and I keep my pieces very organized and flat while cutting and piecing, I use all sorts of things to organize them (plastic bags, plastic bins, safety pins, clothes pins) starting out with a project box. Everything gets put in the box and kept in the box! Recently I got some clips from the dollar store that I just love! They are rather large, heavy and bulky but they don't put lines in my fabric and hold 2 pieces as easily as 20+. 6 to a pack, highly recommended.