Tearing fabric
04-15-2014, 07:09 AM
#21
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Kansas
Posts: 1,599
OK...just for the record....I AM NOT OLD AS DIRT...LOL. I too, remember those measuring thingys with the dial that went round and round as the clerk pulled the fabric through it and then snipped it. The cottons that I bought were always snipped on that machine and then ripped. The clerk usually added a couple of inches for, "good measure." I also loved those brass, grooved insets on the cutting table that helped the clerk to make sure that the other types of fabrics were cut straight. I'd love to have one of those, "groovy," things in my own sewing table.
Oh...and as for your question, yes, you can rip both ways and it will leave nice, straight, edges. Just be sure that your print pattern isn't off, as fabrics are not always printed exactly on grain.
~ Cindy
Oh...and as for your question, yes, you can rip both ways and it will leave nice, straight, edges. Just be sure that your print pattern isn't off, as fabrics are not always printed exactly on grain.
~ Cindy
04-15-2014, 07:32 AM
#22
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Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 7,741
04-15-2014, 12:51 PM
#23
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Chapel Hill
Posts: 1,086
I was at Harriett Hargraves store in Denver a couple weeks ago and bought some fabric and was surprised when they "ripped" the fabric. Seems that's the way they cut their fabric. I did feel like I lost a bit that way as it does warp the threads a bit. But I remember when I took sewing in school (many many moons ago) that was the way we learned to straighten our fabric before we pinned our patterns on.
Cheers, K
04-16-2014, 03:30 AM
#27
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Some where in way out West Texas
Posts: 3,041
Cheshire, I'm older than dirt too- guess one could say I'm a fossil, because I remember when fabric was seldom cut by the clerks. Now even with a groove in the cutting table, most clerks cut the fabric crooked, and I think so much of the fabric is rolled onto the bolts crooked to begin with.
04-16-2014, 03:41 AM
#28
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Hernando FL
Posts: 1,662
I had totally forgotten about those measuring machines. I remembered ripping fabric and when double knit fabric became popular ripping fabric when you bought it was no longer possible. That must have been when those measuring machines went by the wayside. Funny how a simple question turned into a nostalgia trip for me and others.
I rip for backings as it's just so much easier and faster and in the end I'm going to trim off the ripped edge when I bind my quilt. Other than that I don't do much ripping. I figure using the selvedge to measure is true enough grain for me.
I rip for backings as it's just so much easier and faster and in the end I'm going to trim off the ripped edge when I bind my quilt. Other than that I don't do much ripping. I figure using the selvedge to measure is true enough grain for me.
04-16-2014, 04:35 AM
#29
Super Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Central Wisconsin
Posts: 4,391
I had totally forgotten about those measuring machines. I remembered ripping fabric and when double knit fabric became popular ripping fabric when you bought it was no longer possible. That must have been when those measuring machines went by the wayside. Funny how a simple question turned into a nostalgia trip for me and others.
I rip for backings as it's just so much easier and faster and in the end I'm going to trim off the ripped edge when I bind my quilt. Other than that I don't do much ripping. I figure using the selvedge to measure is true enough grain for me.
I rip for backings as it's just so much easier and faster and in the end I'm going to trim off the ripped edge when I bind my quilt. Other than that I don't do much ripping. I figure using the selvedge to measure is true enough grain for me.
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