Tearing fabric
#32
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Michigan Thumb
Posts: 1,956
I recall a store that measured with a meter of sorts and then it made a cut at the perfect amount and then the fabric was torn. Guess we have the same 'dirt', memory.
#33
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Heart of Colorado's majestic mountains!
Posts: 6,026
Grainline is very important. When on garment is on-grain by the home sewer it really looks great whereas so many garments purchased now days look awful because of the poor attention to grain lines.Made at home does not imply inferiority and I do not understand this concept of 'homemade'. While quilting fabric can be ripped in either direction I usually measure lengthwise borders from the selvedges because they are on grain already and not have loss that needs to be trimmed away. I frequently rip the crosswise grain and then it is easy to tenter (pull diagonally) to straighten the fabric to cut my pieces. Over a period of time I have come to a point of using the lengthwise direction to cut pieces because it does have less stretch than the crosswise grain.
#35
Power Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Location: MN
Posts: 24,523
I will occasionally tear/rip the fabric (sometimes accidentally!). But I do prefer to sew with a clean cut edge.
Some fabrics DO suffer stress up to an inch away from the tear. There are also some weaves that do not tear well. Knits do not tear well, either.
As far as tearing being the only way to tell if a fabric is straight, one can get a fairly good idea just by LOOKING carefully at it!
Some fabrics DO suffer stress up to an inch away from the tear. There are also some weaves that do not tear well. Knits do not tear well, either.
As far as tearing being the only way to tell if a fabric is straight, one can get a fairly good idea just by LOOKING carefully at it!
#36
#38
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Here and there
Posts: 1,669
I have been ripping for more than 40 years. It is the only way to get the true grain of the fabric. Having the true grain allows you to make the best finished project. The only other way to get the true grain is to pull a thread and then cut along the space it leaves. Pulling a thread is not easy and can be very frustrating. Working with the "true grain" makes a finished project that looks and hangs professionally. In making a garment it means the difference between looking "homemade" and professional.
#39
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Charleston, WV
Posts: 258
I remember those rippers. It would also measure the yardage and then it would clip it and the lady would rip the fabric crosswise. I was surprised how many people don't remember this as I am 66 and there are a lot of my fiends who are older and don't know what I am talking about.
#40
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Texas
Posts: 2,369
Well, I am too, then. Because I remember seeing clerks put the fabric in that device fastened to the cutting table, and push some kind of lever that, as you say, nipped a cut in the fabric to give the clerk a starting place to tear the yardage from the fabric on the bolt. Now they all cut fabric. Not sure why they stopped tearing, unless it has to do with the way fabric is woven and/or milled these days.
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