bkay

I'm a newbie to quilting. I've been doing a lot of cutting the last few days for multiple projects. I'm having a really hard time squaring fabrics. I've been ripping to get the straight of the grain. If I square to that, then the selvage is off. I think know that the selvage has to be on the straight of the grain. I've pulled some of the lighter weight cottons into square by pulling on the bias. It helps sometimes.

I have a Robert Kaufman print that I washed last week. I ripped off 1/3 yard for some 5" squares for a swap. I got it fairly straight with pulling on the bias. I decided to use the rest of it for another swap. After pressing it with a vodka/water spritz, the ripped edge is an inch off square from the fold to the selvage without pulling on the bias.

All of the swaps say to cut on the grain. Sometimes it's hard to figure out exactly what the straight is. Do people just ignore it and cut anyway? Is there some trick or method I need to know about? Is it the way I'm pressing?

bkay

NatalieF

I use this method and it seems to work well for me so far...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcpzwJMVTbc

PaperPrincess

Squaring fabric has a bit different definition in quilting vs. garment construction. When making a garment, you need to spend a lot of time getting the fabric trued up so that it will drape correctly. With quilting, you want to get it close, but it doesn't need to be as exact. Holding the fabric piece with selvedges together along the top and looking at how evenly it hangs is the standard method, as described in the video. I prefer not to make the second fold, so I work with a 22" length.

ManiacQuilter2

I use mostly RK and I just straighten the fold of the fabric so it lays flat, line up my ruler on the folded edge and cut. The grain on some fabric can be way off.

Here is a u-tube that may help you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_euef3T7b8

Prism99

I would never rip fabric to square it. It damages the fibers up to 2" from the rip. This damage is not necessarily visible to the eye, but can be seen if the edges are examined under a microscope. You do not want one of these edges in a seamline in your quilt. (Note: It's not as bad to rip along the lengthwise grain. I will rip in that direction for a border, but even then I plan on eliminating the first inch or so near the rip.)

For garment sewing it is important to cut exactly on grain so the fabric will drape nicely over the hips and, er..., other body parts. It is not that important to be exactly on grain when cutting pieces for a quilt. You just want to be close to on-grain so that the edges of your pieces don't distort from handling. Bias edges are the most likely to stretch and distort from handling; the closer you get to on-grain, the less instability you have for the fabric edges.

For a swap, all you need to do is to cut reasonably on-grain. It's not really helpful to pull on the bias to straighten the fabric before cutting; there will be a tendency for the fabric to go back to its original form. I don't do swaps, but when I cut my own fabric I usually just line up the selvedge edges to be roughly parallel. I then use a ruler to help me make the first cut exactly 90 degrees parallel to the fold. If this requires cutting off up to an inch of fabric or so in order to get a straight line, that's fine with me. If it's a small piece of fabric and I will lose 2" by doing this, I usually "fudge" a bit and let the selvedges not line up perfectly in order to save some of the fabric. The little bit off-grain that these cuts will be do not affect my pieces.

bkay

Thanks so much. The video and the two behind it really helped. I think I can do a better job of squaring the fabric.

Also, now I know, square is "kind of square".

bkay

Barb in Louisiana

Squaring up my quilting fabric is not normally that important to me. The pieces are so small, that it usually doesn't matter. The exception is fabric with stripes....can't stand stripes that aren't straight....and panels. And I just wonder why ALL panels are printed crooked on the fabric? Even then, I only pull it enough to get the printing as straight as I can. The old saying, "Don't sweat the small stuff and everything is small stuff", applies to my approach of squaring fabric. "smile"

DOTTYMO

I prefer the top video method for squaring up.

brandy123

I just tried to rip fabric for the first time and I decided I would stay by folding the fabric salvage to salvage then use a ruler to cut my pieces little bigger than what the pattern calls for. Then I use a square up ruler it may take more time but I know they are square.

tapper

Thank you for the video links.
Also...big thanks to bkay for starting this thread. I always wondered how exact I needed to be when squaring up fabric.