there is a fabric store in town that sells fabric by the pound,been here for years.They rip the fabric.My friend went in to buy and about had a heart attack when they ripped the first piece.She asked the girl not to do that,she wanted it cut,the girl proceded to rip again and my friend turned and walked out,left the fabric there.

I do think ripping gives you a more straight of grain edge - but ripping selvedge to selvedge will likely leave a half inch or so unusable. So my instinct is to say that they need to allow for that, and give an inch or two extra. In thinking about it, though, I often have to cut that much off to straighten the edge anyhow, and getting it to the point of knowing where the straight edge in can be challenging, esp. for longer cuts.

This reminds me of waaayyy back when I started sewing - in 4-H. We were doing garment construction and after buying fabric at the Ben Franklin, we had to pull a thread up with a pin and then pull it from edge to edge to get the straight of grain for our pattern. :shock:

I too go to Mary Jo's (quite often). There are several of the girls there that "rip" the fabric, but not all of them do. I have purchased several fabrics that I did not want "ripped" and they were more than happy to cut those fabrics for me. ANY fabric shop should honor the wishes of the customer, (within reason) - that is - if they want to stay in business.

I also go to Mary Jo's and I have never had my fabric ripped. I do tear mine for borders, it is so much easier to get a straight line with long borders that way . If I am buying good quality material, it doesn't bother me if they tear it.

I hate when they rip fabric. I cringe. I don't like the fabric all stretched out. Sirs in Fayetteville rips it and they act like I'm putting them out when I tell them I don't like it ripped.
It's faster for them to rip it so they hate using the scissors...

I only tear my fabrics the length of the fabric when I need a long border and don't want to piece. I don't have a problem with doing it that way.

And, yes, I've seen my mom and my grandmother ripping fabric with their teeth -- I thought everyone did this :lol: :lol: :lol:

I have been quilting for 40 years and I always tear my borders and fabric for strips if it is longer than my ruler. If I am buying a fabric with a print where being straight counts I have the store even JoAnns tear it. It is the only way to be sure that the grain is straight. We have all had quilts that ended up with ripples. If it gets distorted through tearing a little ironing with steam works miracles.

I agree completely!

In my years of working at quilt stores, I learned that even the "top quality" brands of fabric are seldom wound straight on the bolts. We sometimes ripped off a few inches at the beginning of a bolt to see how bad it was. Our customers knew that we would rip or cut as they prefered. The experienced quilters could see by looking at the bolt whether it would be better to rip or cut.

Yes, we made sure to give them an extra inch or so in order to compensate for the frayed edges, but if it was cut, they had to deal with the straightening problem themselves.


I don't mind ripping yardage and have requested it when I have seen bolts that were not wound straight.

Don't go to Quilt In A Day tent sales at Paducah if you don't want your fabric ripped. That's the only way they cut the fabric. I went to a quilt market show and all the fabric was ripped unless it was prepackaged. I worked in a fashion sewing factory as a teenager and most all the fabric was ripped. Ripped fabric will not skew, have hundreds of thread hanging, or go off grain if the fabric is good quality. Low quality fabric will be a mess if you rip it and you'll lose many inches trying to get a straight grain rip. That's the way I can tell if the fabric is the good stuff and worth the money.