My Cat's Belle

There was a suggestion a while back on the board that when you are cutting strips you cut one strip in one direction, and the next strip in the other direction. That may help.
Susan

lizzy

Sometimes you might be letting the long ruler move so that is no longer straight. Also, if you are cutting more than one strip, you should stop and see if your strips are still straight, if not, clean the strip up and start again. Hope this is clear to you.

Susanb

Hey David I can sympathize with what you've encountered. Here's what I learned/was taught - before you begin to make any cuts, hold your fabric up by the selvages. Look at the fold in the fabric - does the top layer look like it's shifted or pulled a little either left or right? If so, and you just lay the fabric down and cut your 2 or 3 inch strips, when you unfold, they will form Vs. Move the top layer of fabric a little left or right until you don't see that shift/pulled look; then cut a straight edge. From the straight edge then measure your strips and cut. There are two straight-of-the-grains - one horizontally (with the length of the cut fabric) and one vertically (selvage to selvage). It's the selvage to selvage straight-of-the-grain that is giving you problems. When it's lined up correctly, all cuts will be without the V. Fabric gets stretched on the bolt, causing the selvage to selvage to shift, hence V cuts ensue. Hope this helps.

betbet

i believe it is as simple as not folding your fabric.

grammysharon

I think your fabric is off grain. Maybe you haven't squared it up? Ask how I know these things :oops: :oops:

skeet

thank you ,thank you Gaigai. I was having problems also squaring fabric. liked you tutorial.

garysgal

I read somewhere that if you cut one strip, then rotate the fabric and cut a strip, then rotate again, and do this until you have cut all the strips, it won't bow. I only tried it once and it seemed to work.

KLO

This is what I do also. I used to end up with those curves all the time until I got my fabric aligned correctly by doing the above method. You can really see this if you shift the fabric back and forth while looking at the folded edge. It soon becomes obvious when it is aligned and when it isn't. Try it and you'll see.

MissJMac

Someone, don't rememberwho, told me to always lay fabric with fold on line in front of me and cut the fold first (cutting up toward the salvage

justlooking

A lot of good advice!