square up fabric

[lonecone]

Can someone please tell me the best way to square up fabric before cutting? I have two how-to books, but they give conflicting instructions!
Thanks so much!

[Quilter7]

Hi lonecone,
I haven't seen you on the forum, so a big Welcome!! Glad you joined us and hope to "see" you in the sew-in thread.

I tear the fabric to know where is the straight edge. Then I cut about a quarter inch away. I am not sure this is completely correct, but I am sure that many fabric stores cut off grain!!

[auntjana]

The method I teach my students is to line up the selvages so that they are parallel -(ignore the factory fold) no cross wrinkles in the fabric - so that it hangs straight and makes a new fold line down the fabric. I then have then lay it on a cutting board - the cut edges will not meet - and then fold in half again - matching up the selvage and the fold - again that they are parallel and no wrinkles anywhere in the fabric as it lays on the cutting mat. The WOF -width of fabric - edges may not meet- usually don't. You will have four layers at this point. I then have them line up the folded side of fabric on a straight line of their mat - parallel to the bottom of the mat. Usually I use the 1 inch mark and make sure that it is straight - side to side on that 1 inch line.. This gives me the uneven edges so I can lay my ruler on them and use the up/down lines of my mat to straighten the edge. I trim the uneven edge to one of the up /down lines - lining up so that everything is straight to one of the lines - top to bottom. Then cut.

I can then cut any size strip that I want using my ruler as the gauge - not the lines on the mat. The mat lines are printed by a roller method that does not make them exactly the size we may need. Some of the inch marks may be off - too wide or too short. The ruler lines are you best judge of the size of strip that you need. I only use the cutting mat lines to keep me straight and parallel.

I also teach them to cut the strip just one or two threads of the fabric wider than the strip needed. This gives me a little wiggle room when I sew the strips together.

I probably confused more than I helped - so ask and I will try to explain better if you need.

Many fabrics are printed so they are not square to the selvage or the grain . Some have a tendency not to tear on the grain either - sometimes it is the finish that the manufacturer puts on it that causes a problem. So beware that this happens.

Jana

[cindyg]

I use the same method as Jana. I wash and dry my fabrics first so sometimes the selvages shrink up more than the fabric so I sometimes clip the selvages. I try to make my borders from the length of fabric with no seams so I usually rip those and the bindings, too, unless I'm making bias binding.

I hope you aren't totally confused. As far as conflicting views - there is not such thing as the quilt police. You might want to try different ways of doing things and you will figure out which way works the best for you.