Is this common ?
#62
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Originally Posted by amandasgramma
I'd never go back to a store that tears. I bought some fabric online one time that had been torn (didn't know it till I got it).....It was crooked. I tried like the devil to get it to straighten up. It didn't -- I lost about 1/8th yard.....
My mother gave me a quilt she'd started -- a log cabin. She'd torn the strips. The strips had stripes in some of them...the fabric did NOT stay on the "grain" -- or the design wasn't on the grain. So -- had she not torn it, she could have adjusted and had her stripes show up straight on the quilt.....(is that as clear as mud????)
My mother gave me a quilt she'd started -- a log cabin. She'd torn the strips. The strips had stripes in some of them...the fabric did NOT stay on the "grain" -- or the design wasn't on the grain. So -- had she not torn it, she could have adjusted and had her stripes show up straight on the quilt.....(is that as clear as mud????)
I think we are all just a product of our experiences. I've lost loads of yardage over the years with cutting, and have never had a single issue with tearing, so my choice is clear. Anyone who has the opposite experience would surely have the opposite preference, and that's okay! :)
#63
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I have seen it done both ways. I do feel that you get a straighter line when it is ripped because it follows the grain but I too don't like the ragged edges. Either way I have to work on neatening it up or squaring it up so it doesn't really matter to me which way they do it.
#64
Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 14
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Ripping the fabric does cause the fibers on the edge(where its been torn) sometimes up to 3/4 of an inch or more that becomes unusable. I ask for mine to be cut. No, its not cheep to begin with and when you have to go home and trim off all the damage. I won't buy it if they won't cut it.
#66
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Somewhere in Time
Posts: 2,697
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Originally Posted by sewnsewer2
I'd rather have it ripped than for them to cut it crooked as some do!
I was impressed that there are those around who still tear the fabric. The one around here that does also seems to take more care in the folding of the fabric after tearing it.
If you don't like the tearing, ask them to please cut it.
#67
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I don't like the look of torn fabric myself, but I seldom see it torn because the shops around here don't tear. Long ago, a lot of shops did tear the fabric because they said it made a "straighter cut", and I think maybe it did back then. A lot of the fabric today is not woven straight and is woven in such a way that if you tear, you don't get a straight of grain cut. Just my opinion.
#68
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It seems to be a reflection of how poor the quality of fabric is today. At one time better cotton goods were all printed 'on grain.' Fabric was torn to guarantee you were getting the amount you were paying for. It was actually the lesser shops or departments that would cut instead of tearing. When the wrinkle-free finishes began to appear you couldn't permanently straighten them at all so cutting became more the norm. I would certainly like to be able some of that older cotton, cut or torn.
#69
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So long as they allow a little lee - way for the tearing, I would not be worried. However, just about every place I go to in this country has a furrow in the cutting table which the scissors are moved along so that there is an accurate cut. If they don't have that, they measure and accurately cut with a rule and rotary cutter.
#70
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: north Texas
Posts: 858
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some fabric is off grain by a lot, so if they tear and begin on grain then you get more material and don't have to deal with off grain fabric later. Sometimes it doesn't make that much difference but on the other hand it can. I don't care for the ragged edge either but it is easy to trim and you lose less fabric by trimming on grain.
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