"Shocked" and "Horrified" expression was SO worth it!
#11
I worked part time in a quilt shop for 3 glorious years and we also tore the fabric. It can be so crooked on the bolt sometimes. We would always allow a little extra for the small distortion along the torn edges. I haven't seen anyone in a store tear fabric in years. Like BellaBoo, I always tear my borders the length of the fabric.
#13
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 453
Back in 1978 I made 75 square dance dresses for a club. There were miles and miles of red ruffles, narrow ones for the sleeves and wide ones for the bottom of the skirts. I tore and tore and they were wonderful. I would make clips along the cut end of a bolt of fabric at the designated widths I needed, tear down about a foot, grab every other strip and hand it to a friend. We then walked away from each other the length of the room and then went again! I sat and hemmed them, she ruffled them, they went into baskets by size (2", 7", 9", etc.) and got applied to the skirts and sleeves. Took WAY less time then cutting, I can't even imagine doing it with scissors (this was before rotary cutters were common). I still rip and shock people all the time!
#14
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 559
I don't often tear fabric. It seems to want to get it out of square and then have to pull corners to correct it. If I do tear, I will usually trim the edge and so what have I gained
, more work. Pet peeve is to buy a printed fabric such as a toile and discover it is to be not on the straight grain crosswise. The, I tear viciously.
, more work. Pet peeve is to buy a printed fabric such as a toile and discover it is to be not on the straight grain crosswise. The, I tear viciously.
#15
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,789
I don't see the shock of tearing fabric. It's fabric. LOL I always tear borders. No way I'm going to cut long strips with scissors or rotary cutter. And I don't like to piece borders so I tear lengthwise what I need per quilt side. A quick press and I have perfectly straight strips.
#16
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: California
Posts: 3,502
I just tore some last night, a favorite thing to do! I have a long length of black that I need some piecing and some borders from. I didn't want to cut off length for the piecing and leave myself short on the borders so... I tore off a long 6" strip.
#17
I worked part time in a quilt shop for 3 glorious years and we also tore the fabric. It can be so crooked on the bolt sometimes. We would always allow a little extra for the small distortion along the torn edges. I haven't seen anyone in a store tear fabric in years. Like BellaBoo, I always tear my borders the length of the fabric.
#18
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 264
OK, showing my age. In HS Home Ec we learned to straighten fabric by tearing. It will only tear on the cross grain, not on the bias. Then to make sure the grain line was straight, with 2 people, we stood with the fabric folded in half, selvedges at the top holding the 2 corners of our end of the length of fabric. Keeping the selvedge edges even, we shifted the fabric until it hung straight with no wrinkles. Then, if one side was longer than the other, we dropped that corner and pulled the short side away from one another (like a tug of war) . Rechecked it and worked until the fabric was on grain. This probably will not be too successful on poly blends or any man made fibers that may be heat set in the mfg. process. Not sure why this still isn't done. But no one teaches serious sewing any more. (Do I sound like a grumpy OLD person. tee hee).
#19
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Delmarva Peninsula
Posts: 1,151
I tear fabric when I am taking a length off a larger piece. I was told that the tear gives a true straight edge, what I have found out the it does give a true edge, but in some fabrics, the print is not screened on true. Some fabric gives alot of strings, some don't. What I have also been told is that a blend fabric when torn will pull threads (the non cotton threads) and ripple the edge. This has happened to me especially with older ginghams which I now know are a blend.
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