Guess I will ask my friend, "what is the right way to rip with a seam ripper". Since there doesn't really seem to be a right way after all. Will post on this later, so stay tuned.

I do this. Including the cussing part in good ol' fashioned Anglo Saxon English. :mrgreen: :lol:

I prefer this way as I think it least disturbs and stretches the fabric. Now I'm going to look at the You Tube video to see if I've been doing it right all these years. :mrgreen:

Yeaaayyyyy! Just watched it - clever me! :lol:

PS for paper piecing stitches I use a small rotary cutter - I think I learned that from our very own amma - who also taught me to PP. :D

This is my way.

Just had to use the good old seam ripper...was watching tv while I sewed, and sewed the wrong end closed, DUH. I guess I was doing okay, because no one came in and grabbed it out of my hand, yelling no no no. Lol. Anyone wants to criticize my method can take over the job of ripping for me, lol.

I DID pay attention to which end I was closing the second time.

Holy smokes! I need to try this.

[quote=Greenheron]

that's what I do. I cut one side, then pull the other. Often, after getting 3 or 4 cuts in, I go over a few inches, but the other side and am able to pull a whole section loose. I also use an old rotary blade if the stitches are beingreally difficult. Only when DH isn't looking. It drives him nuts to see me holding onto a rotary blade, although I've never cut myself this way.

I would love to see the rotary blade method in action. My mother and aunt used the single edge razor blade or pulled the bobbin thread til it broke, then the top thread until it broke, so I learned those ways first. The I discovered the seam ripper and use it with the ball side underneath the seam. So I use the all depending on my mood and how long the stitches and the seams are.

My rotary method is the same as Dad's razor blade method. (Dad taught me to sew.)

You pick a little at one end then gently holding the top seam in your left hand until the stitching is just under tension, you snick away at the stitches with the rotary cutter in your right hand. Be careful not to stretch the seam out of true. I only do this for PP and then I use my small rotary cutter so it's more manageable - I think it's around an inch across. :-D

The same except that I use a medim blade