Some things I have learned about buying fabric . . .
06-05-2015, 01:25 PM
#31
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Beautiful Oregon
Posts: 320
I am a new quilter, and will be for the rest of my life as old as I am --- so I have never learned about 'on grain, or 'off grain'. I don't (can't) follow a pattern, so I make it up as I go, and when I come across fabric (say, that has been given to me by my dear mother) that has straight lines or pattern, I just cut my strips or squares on an angle so the pattern is off balance, and looks fine to me. Better than uneven lines.
06-05-2015, 04:30 PM
#32
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Bobcaygeon,On./ Bonita Springs, Fl
Posts: 1,015
I do wonder why they sometimes print just a very limited number of really good fabric lines. I remember a few years back making a quilt out of little paper doll patterns. Everywhere I went, people loved that fabric. And there was none to be found. So now if I find something I really like, I buy it. And I won't sell anything again that I love, which I have and was a big mistake.
06-05-2015, 08:14 PM
#33
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Phoenix AZ
Posts: 1,018
I had to laugh about the old calicos. I work with a charity group in Phoenix that has a room full of donated fabric. I would say half are those old type calicos. So much of that powdered blue and pink. We get lots of donations when ladies pass away.
06-06-2015, 01:04 PM
#35
Super Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Pacific NW
Posts: 9,490
I don't think grain is as critical in quilting as it is in garment sewing. I think once everything is chopped up into small pieces and sewn back together and stitched down to a batting, a few pieces off-grain has little to no effect on the quilt. How do you cut a hexagon "on grain", for example!? Only 2 of the 6 cuts are going to align, no matter what you do!
Ooooh, I LOVE stripes!!! They make the best binding, and just a little touch of stripe in a quilt gives it so much zing!!
I don't do much with plaids, however.
06-07-2015, 12:54 PM
#37
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Fletcher NC(cool, green mountains)
Posts: 646
I don't worry about the grain at all, I am more concerned with the pattern of the piece and getting it straight....I too think that once it is cut, the sewing is done, the quilting is done, it will look and fit just fine..............
I just go with the fabrics appearance and feel............if I like the design, and it feels good for a quilt, and the price is right, I buy it........and I tend to buy several yards (sometimes what is left on the bolt if its on sale).......you don't know what you may decide to use it for, later, so you want to have enough to do whatever the pattern may be....and leftovers are always good to have, for those scrap quilts that most of us love...........
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