wtxpeach

I also remember the ripping. It was wonderful. However, times have changed. All fabrics are not created equal and some fabrics lend themselves well to ripping, others do NOT! Some fabric grains seem to take off on their own and go in strange directions. Others will follow the grain, but are so crooked on the bolt, you lose a lot. If a fabric store cuts and rips, they are losing a lot of fabric going back and forth to compensate for the previous cut. In these times a store cannot afford the losses.

There was a customer who grabbed some dupioni and started trying to pull threads and making a huge pile of mess of the silk. She stated the clerk would not tear it, so she was going to. The fabric had to be cut and thrown out. Dupioni is expensive.

Another customer bought 28 yards of fabric for tables for an event. She went home and ripped her fabric for the tablecloths. Since the fabric did not tear straight, every tablecloth came up short and oddly shaped. This was 90" wide fabric and a total loss. There was no more fabric left and no time to order it.

I was always taught that torn fabric is weakened. It is not just the fraying and the rippling. That is an indication that the fabric has been stressed and washing cannot cure it. Dark fabrics will show a change in color. It is suggested to cut at least an inch into a ripped edge so that the weakened fabric is not part of the seam.

There are pros and cons for both, but you need to know which fabric you can cut and which can be torn. When you are throwing around hundreds of bolts a day, it is impossible to know how each is going to react. It is usually best to play it safe and cut.

When Moda says rip, then rip. They know their product and are confident it will rip beautifully and I am sure it will.

No clear-cut answers here. Just know your fabric and do what is more comfortable for you.

Jammin' Jane

Memories...love them all!

gypsylady5

I still rip my fabric. It is a much straighter cut and less effort. I don't mind the cuts when they use a track like at Joann's, but when they freecut it, I am not as happy. Fabric rips with the straight of the fabric giving a truer cut.

pamg

Went to the Quilt and Sewing Expo in Cleveland Ohio and the one place I got fabric at was still doing it,,,,,and man they were selling a lot of fabric

bjdemir

STuck in the 50's tonight. I remember the measuring and ripping of the fabric back then.

nightquilter

One of my l.c.s. still does this. Which is how I like my 108'' and larger fabric to be done.

jpthequilter

It has always been a good idea, because the results are that your blocks and quilt will be square, and will never get wonky. ever!
We used to snip across the selvege, and ravel out a thread or two, and start pulling on them, gathering the fabric, until either the thread broke, or you got all the way across.
In either case, there is a line in the fabric, and you cut carefully with scissors exactly on the line. If the thread broke, you just cut that far, raveled enough thread to get hold of and pulled more. Usually somebody pulled a thread to cut off a piece from several yards. It was also a good way to get square pieces or blocks.
Then, in order to square up the fabric, we used to grab one corner, and somebody else would grab the fabric at a point diagonal from where you were holding, and both would pull very hard, and the fabric would shift into being "square".
There was a kind of skill to this, learning exactly the angles needed to make the fabric come out square. Jeannie

Glynda

I wish they would go back to tearing fabric instead of cutting. Most places I buy fabric just cut, not making sure anything is straight or not.
I was helping a friend make a table runner and the sales person cutting started her cut on the exact measurment. When we started squaring up the fabric at home, she had cut it 1.5 inches shorter on the oposite side. We could not use the piece of fabric. I took it back and they cut us a new piece, made sure it was straight and gave an extra 1in.
Sometimes they are generious and give a couple extra inches which would take care of not cutting straight.
Sometimes they act like they don't understand why it needs to be straight.

Momsmurf

I agree. The key word dogsgod used as far as I'm concerned is "generous" in their cutting.

JulieR

For those who have trouble with "inches" lost when the fabric is torn, why do you think that is? I've never once had that happen to me; usually I don't even have to trim, just include the bit of fray in my 1/4" seam allowance and go to town. Is it the type or quality of fabric making the difference?

I'm just curious.