Thursday Tidbit - Grainlines

Here's some basic info for you.

Fabric is woven with fibers, and the direction of the fibers is called the "grainline".

• The fibers that run parallel to the selvage are the "weft", or quilters call it the Length of Grain.  These are the strongest fibers in the material, and they have little to no stretch or give.
• The fibers that run from selvage to selvage are the "warp", or Cross Grain.  These are the weakest fibers in the material, and they have a small amount of stretch or give.
• A diagonal cut across the warp & the weft is called Bias, and it has the most stretch of all.

Why should you care?
1.  Marti Michell is a self-described "grainline geek".  Since the length of grain has little to no stretch, she cuts all of her pieces on length of grain so that her project is guaranteed to be nice and flat.  If you cut your borders on the length of grain, you won't have to seam them for length.  Con:  Since there is no give, your piecing needs to be deadly accurate.  There's no "easing" allowed.  Using length of grain for piecing and borders also requires that you purchase more fabric.
2.  Pieces cut cross grain have a little bit of stretch.  If your piecing tends not to be 100% accurate, you can "ease" blocks to sashing and borders.  You will require less fabric if you cut all your pieces cross grain, but any sash or border longer than 42" will have to be seamed.
3.  Bias is extremely flexible, and is required if you have curves or other attributes that require the fabric to bend.  Of course, the diagonal seam in a half square is on the bias.  This is why you need to use caution when ironing half squares or any other piecing that has an angle in it (like flying geese).  "Ironing" instead of "pressing" along a bias-pieced seam can cause distortion in the block.  But cutting on the bias is very handy for applique or for binding a quilt with curved edges.
4.  Tearing fabric is easier if you tear along the length of grain rather than the cross grain.  Think about it; by tearing on the length of grain, you are breaking the weaker (warp) fibers.  You have a minimum of damage or bruising.  This is why I tear my selvages off when piecing my backing. If you tear across the grain (from selvage to selvage), you are attempting to break the strongest (weft) fibers, and the resulting damage (or "bruising") to the remaining fabric can equal a half inch or more.  This is why we rotary cut our fabric in the store instead of tearing it.  Some quilt shops still tear fabric from the bolt.  If you ever encounter this, you can ask to have your fabric cut, and if they won't, I suggest that you purchase extra fabric to allow for the "bruising" that will result.

Even if you don't have the selvage on a piece of fabric anymore, you can use the stretch test to determine the grainline of a piece of fabric.  Go ahead, give it a try!

One Week, One Thing - April 16

Good afternoon, my friends!

Last week, I completed the quilting and binding on the Kaffe Fassett Collection 1000 Pyramids quilt.  We had a few kits in the shop, but they have sold out.  It's on our list to re-cut; hopefully we'll get to that this week.

I also played a little bit with the Marti Michell large Drunkard's Path templates this past week.  Don't know if I'll be able to get back to it this week.

My number one challenge this week is to completely cut out the pieces for this quilt....

It's called Vintage Rouge and it's a Block of the Month that we will be starting in June and the sample kit just arrived.  I need to get busy!  The fun thing about this quilt is the dresdens are English Paper Pieced using a striped fabric - it's all an optical illusion!!  Perhaps I'll have actual block progress to show next week.  But I need to get it all cut out first....

How about you?

Thursday Tidbit - Piecing Your Backing

Congratulations! You've finished a fabulous quilt top and now it's time to piece your backing together.  If you've forgotten how to determine how much yardage you will need, refresh your memory by reading the past Tidbit on calculating yardage.

Most of your backings (unless you are making a queen-sized or larger quilt) will require a single seam in the backing.  Here's the quick way I go about preparing and sewing that seam.

You know you'll have to cut your yardage in half.  Don't try to measure it; just fold it in half and place a pin in the fold.

Open up the yardage, and place a ruler next to the pin, making sure your ruler is aligned straight with the fold.

Remove the pin and cut from the fold to the selvage.  You now have two equal pieces for your backing.

The next step is to sew the two halves together along the long sides.  You'll need to remove the selvages before you begin sewing this seam.  But before you do that, here's something to think about.

If your backing is directional, you'll want to make sure that the two halves are facing the same direction once you sew the seam.  Without wrangling yards of fabric, here's an easy way to make sure that both pieces are oriented the same way.

Have you ever really looked at selvages on fabric?  Usually, one selvage has printed information on it, and the other one doesn't.  If you remove the printed selvage from one half of backing and the plain selvage from the other, you are guaranteed that your print will be in the same direction once your seam is sewn.  Of course, the exception is batiks, woven plaids and solids.  You'll just have to pay attention to your pattern orientation on those.

Once you've determined which selvages you are going to remove, it's time to do that.  Instead of opening up the fabric and folding it multiple times and cutting off the selvage with a rotary cutter and ruler, I TEAR the selvage off.  Yes, I said TEAR.  You can never guarantee that your cut is going to be straight if you make multiple folds in yards of fabric and try to cut it.  Tearing guarantees a straight edge, because you are tearing along the length of grain of the fabric.  I know this sounds scary, but you'll just have to trust me on this.  I've done it hundreds of times!

Make a snip with a pair of scissors parallel to the selvage.

Now pull on the selvage and start tearing!  The fabric will curl slightly after being torn.

Take the fabric to your ironing board and press the edge as well as press out the center fold line.

This is how your edge will look after it's pressed.  You may have just a little bit of "bruising" of the fabric, but not nearly as much as you would if you had torn the fabric cross-grain (from selvage to selvage).

Place your two halves right sides together, and sew them together using a 1/2" seam.  (Note:  If you don't use pins, you will probably end up with one edge being 1/2" longer than the other when you get to the end of the seam.  Don't panic - it's okay because you added extra to the length or width when you calculated your yardage amount.  This just emphasizes the fact that fabric feeds at different rates through the feeds dogs.  This is why you NEVER should sew on borders without pinning!) Press the seam open and you're good to go!

If you are piecing a back with 3 seams, you will have to measure your yardage into thirds before you cut it.  Work with the selvages the same way; remove the selvages from piece 1 and piece 2 and seam together.  Press the seam.  Now, remove the selvages from the other side of piece 2 and piece 3 and seam together.  By doing the sewing in steps, you'll guarantee that the print on all 3 panels is oriented in the same direction.