Darlene

I have never seen a store rip fabric but it would go against what I would like. It does seems wasteful to do this and leave a messy edge.

kd124

My experience is that in the few places that rip the fabric, I have less waste. I don't know how many times I have had to cut off quite a bit of fabric to get it square. It makes me mad when I end up with less than the yard I purchased, and I would rather deal with the threads. I have a friend that got to the bottom of the quilt she was quilting to discover she was short fabric on one side. She trimmed the top but didn't worry about the bottom. If I remember correctly, she had purchase a 1/4 yard of extra fabric than needed for machine quilting on a frame. Personnally I always buy about about 1/2 yard extra and now this friend does as well.

Some I rip at home (I was raised to rip fabric when squaring it up). My sis almost always rips backing fabric.

BellaBoo

If you don't like ripping, then don't shop at Eleanor Burn's tent sales at Paducah. It's all ripped. Quilt shop quality fabric for $3 and $4 a yard, no time to cut with hundreds of customers in each tent. The rippers are fast and efficient. If you want cut fabric then you go to her quilt store there for that and pay more. The store is downtown Paducah., it's not located at the tent area.

butterflywing

i believe that where you pay more, they take the time to cut straight.

if the crossgrain is offgrain and the fabric is ripped in that direction, the rip will also be offgrain. there is nothing that you can ever do to permanently make it square. even if you pull and tug and press it into somewhere-near-true, it will not stay there.

if the rip is offgrain and you fold the fabric selvedge to selvedge, you will have 'ears' sticking out on both ends, which are not doubled and not usable. those will have to be trimmed away. that represents whole inches on each end. on the other hand, if the fabric is offgrain and is cut straight across, there it is. already cut straight with no 'ears'. in either case, if you plan to wash it before you cut, do something to keep the edges from fraying or you'll lose inches anyway. everyone has their favorite method and mine is to sew the two raw edges together, while the fabric is still folded lengthwise, to make a tube. i stay as close to the edge as possible and use a zigzag stitch.
i really hope this helps explain the offgrain question.

EDIT: within the last 25 years i can count on one hand the number of times i have gotten true-grain fabric regardless of price. including upholstery or other home dec or garment fabric. now that most fabrics are being made out-of-country (even by famous mills) this problem has gotten worse.

shaverg

I have been ripping for over 25 years, with absolutely no problem and l have less squaring after the borders are on. For those that wash your fabric, you get less strings than what you get when you wash. I always press the long strips after I rip. It is just what you are confortable with.

GailG

I prefer tearing my lengthwise strips. I usually allow a few threads more to allow for the threads. Once the two or three threads have pulled off, they're done. I press before stitching and the "little fringes" don't bother me. But tearing on the WOF is not always so good. If the fabric has been heatset at the factory off grain, then there is no pulling it back into shape. So I just square off the ends and cut across. I don't look at quiliting as rocket science, so as long as my pieces are fairly decent, I'm happy.

LindaR

I have ripped for long borders too...can't say it hurt any

Moonpi

I'm a ripper from way back. I WISH my local shops would rip. It seems like every time they cut, it is uneven and ravels in the wash. When I've mentioned that a piece was being cut crooked, the clerk stretched it to match. I just shook my head. If cloth is woven well, ripping will give you an edge that is true. No waste at all.

butterflywing

mp, i think the key words here are 'well woven'. most fabric is not woven straight across from selvedge to selvedge. when i sewed professionally, there always had to more fabric than was 'needed' to account for off-grain.
the thing is that when the weaving is taking place, the front and back rollers must go at the same speed. if the woven fabric comes onto the roller at a different speed than it entered the weaving loom, off-graining occurs. the lengthwise fibres come off the first roller, the shuttle goes back and forth across the lengthwise threads (fibres) weaving everything into fabric. then the fabric comes out of the loom onto another roller for rolling onto a roll of cardboard. if the roller that feeds the lengthwise threads is going at a different speed than the take-up roller, then the shuttle isn't moving back and forth evenly, causing those cross threads to be at an angle, or off-grain. when you rip, it rips at the angle at which it was woven. you can never get it to be straight.

ripping lengthwise is always fine. they just go happily along at whatever rate of speed comes along.

JCL in FL

I tear for the back of my quilts. I always use cottons and haven't had any problem. they used to always tear fabrics but not many places do that anymore. Or if I am taking a long strip off of one edge. It's faster.