measuring fabric
07-20-2010, 10:40 AM
#42
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Headed home
Posts: 2,372
Wow! I didn't consider myself old, but here it is... I worked at a fabric store that used those measuring devices! I MUST be ancient :lol: The device was set on a bar that attached to the table. No slipping. and we were told to be accurate, no extra inch. Ah well.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane.
07-20-2010, 11:21 AM
#44
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Phoenix,
Posts: 137
Originally Posted by quiltsRfun
Originally Posted by sweet
I would love to find one of those gadgets! I remember they cut a slice in the fabric to tear it too.
Pati, in Phx
07-20-2010, 11:32 AM
#45
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Phoenix,
Posts: 137
About tearing fabric.
In the "old days" fabric was manufactured a bit differently. As with everything else technology has affected the end result at the fabric plant. <G> If you remember those old cottons that were torn off the bolt, you had to iron them or they stayed a wrinkled mess.
Well, When "Permanent Press" clothes started appearing, the home sewists also wanted to be able to make clothing that didn't need real ironing, just the occasional touch up. So a "non wrinkle finish" was developed for fabrics. However, the "non wrinkle finish" also sets the grain of the fabric. It will return to the grain as it is set at the time the finish is applied. So, while we used to tug and pull fabric on the diagonal to straighten the grain, that doesn't work now. To "straighten" the grain of the fabric wash it and dry it. press as needed. That is how the grain will return when it is washed. Regardless of how much you tug it around.
Good things are not always totally perfect. <G> (By the way, one reason Home Dec fabrics are more expensive is that a lot more care is taken to make sure the grain is straight and perpendicular. That adds to the cost of manufacture, as do some of the extra finishes added to Home Dec fabrics. )
Have fun,
Pati, in Phx
In the "old days" fabric was manufactured a bit differently. As with everything else technology has affected the end result at the fabric plant. <G> If you remember those old cottons that were torn off the bolt, you had to iron them or they stayed a wrinkled mess.
Well, When "Permanent Press" clothes started appearing, the home sewists also wanted to be able to make clothing that didn't need real ironing, just the occasional touch up. So a "non wrinkle finish" was developed for fabrics. However, the "non wrinkle finish" also sets the grain of the fabric. It will return to the grain as it is set at the time the finish is applied. So, while we used to tug and pull fabric on the diagonal to straighten the grain, that doesn't work now. To "straighten" the grain of the fabric wash it and dry it. press as needed. That is how the grain will return when it is washed. Regardless of how much you tug it around.
Good things are not always totally perfect. <G> (By the way, one reason Home Dec fabrics are more expensive is that a lot more care is taken to make sure the grain is straight and perpendicular. That adds to the cost of manufacture, as do some of the extra finishes added to Home Dec fabrics. )
Have fun,
Pati, in Phx
07-20-2010, 02:10 PM
#47
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: MO
Posts: 1,057
I remember those! Haven't thought about them in years. I wonder why they quit using them in the first place. I just bought fabric at my lqs and was very pleased at how the fabric was cut. All of it was a little bit more, not on the nose. :lol:
07-20-2010, 02:34 PM
#48
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 3,601
Originally Posted by peppermint31
I went to a fabric shop in Elkader Iowa Saturday and bought some fabric. When they measured it, they used a measuring device that I haven't seen in a LOT of years. You just pull the fabric thru it and it tells you how much fabric there is! :lol: I remember them from my childhood at the Ben Franklin store
07-20-2010, 02:39 PM
#49
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 535
Pati,
That's very good information to know. I learned to sew before permanent press and non-wrinkle finishes for yard goods. Since I've started quilting, I've been wondering if I should be trying to straighten the grain like I used to when sewing clothes years ago. I'm gathering from what you wrote that after the fabric is washed and pressed I should just consider the grain/s to be parallel to and at 90 degrees to the selvedges.
That's very good information to know. I learned to sew before permanent press and non-wrinkle finishes for yard goods. Since I've started quilting, I've been wondering if I should be trying to straighten the grain like I used to when sewing clothes years ago. I'm gathering from what you wrote that after the fabric is washed and pressed I should just consider the grain/s to be parallel to and at 90 degrees to the selvedges.
Originally Posted by Pati- in Phx
About tearing fabric.
In the "old days" fabric was manufactured a bit differently. As with everything else technology has affected the end result at the fabric plant. <G> If you remember those old cottons that were torn off the bolt, you had to iron them or they stayed a wrinkled mess.
Well, When "Permanent Press" clothes started appearing, the home sewists also wanted to be able to make clothing that didn't need real ironing, just the occasional touch up. So a "non wrinkle finish" was developed for fabrics. However, the "non wrinkle finish" also sets the grain of the fabric. It will return to the grain as it is set at the time the finish is applied. So, while we used to tug and pull fabric on the diagonal to straighten the grain, that doesn't work now. To "straighten" the grain of the fabric wash it and dry it. press as needed. That is how the grain will return when it is washed. Regardless of how much you tug it around.
Good things are not always totally perfect. <G> (By the way, one reason Home Dec fabrics are more expensive is that a lot more care is taken to make sure the grain is straight and perpendicular. That adds to the cost of manufacture, as do some of the extra finishes added to Home Dec fabrics. )
Have fun,
Pati, in Phx
In the "old days" fabric was manufactured a bit differently. As with everything else technology has affected the end result at the fabric plant. <G> If you remember those old cottons that were torn off the bolt, you had to iron them or they stayed a wrinkled mess.
Well, When "Permanent Press" clothes started appearing, the home sewists also wanted to be able to make clothing that didn't need real ironing, just the occasional touch up. So a "non wrinkle finish" was developed for fabrics. However, the "non wrinkle finish" also sets the grain of the fabric. It will return to the grain as it is set at the time the finish is applied. So, while we used to tug and pull fabric on the diagonal to straighten the grain, that doesn't work now. To "straighten" the grain of the fabric wash it and dry it. press as needed. That is how the grain will return when it is washed. Regardless of how much you tug it around.
Good things are not always totally perfect. <G> (By the way, one reason Home Dec fabrics are more expensive is that a lot more care is taken to make sure the grain is straight and perpendicular. That adds to the cost of manufacture, as do some of the extra finishes added to Home Dec fabrics. )
Have fun,
Pati, in Phx
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