A new question

The best way I know is to pull a thread for the edge... If you are 100% on grain -- one thread will pull all the way from one side to the other without getting "stuck" on other partial threads... (that is the idea of "ripping" the fabric -- more like to rip down a thread line -- than across them.

It doesn't, but I did learn an interesting trick when we were cutting miles and miles of strips for quilts in our quilt club:

Iron your fabric flat and then fold it selvedge to selvedge, holding it in your hands (not flat on the table!)

When you have the selvedge straight, it will hang straight. If it's off, it will have a little wrinkle in it. We also noticed the fold from the store wasn't the center point. Often, it wasn't cut off the bolt straight and could be off by an inch or two.

Try it, you'll see what I'm talking about.

I didn't think so, but I thought I'd ask. It would be so simple to put a mark every foot or so. I have had the same problem too with stripes. What a bummer.

I do the iron, then hang routine and also the tear trick, but I guess I am a pessimist. I always think I will do something stupid and my cutting will be off.

But it might not help much. More often than not, the cross grain and the selvedge grain are no longer at right angles, and nothing you can do will ever bring them back in line, the fabric has simply been "set". I usually do what somebody else mentioned. After washing (which does help a little to relax wonky grain) iron the piece carefully, moving in the direction of the lengthwise (selvedge) grain. No creases in the middle! Then hold it up with the 2 selvedges together and slide back and forth until the fold hangs perfectly straight. You may find that the cut ends are offset by an inch or more. (Very irritating!) But just fold the piece in half again so the center fold lines up exactly with the selvedges. Line up the ruler so one of the lines falls exactly on the folded edge, then trim off the wonky end. If you make sure your ruler always lines up with the fold, your strips will not become funky. Roberta in D

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It doesn't really matter. As long as you cut perpendicular to the fold your pieces will be straight. To be sure that the fold is "straight" make sure that it is smooth. In the old days we were taught to pull a thread and straighten the fabric to make sure the grain was square. Today's fabrics have been treated to make them more wrinkle resistant and that also "sets" the grain, sometimes not quite square. If you pre wash fabric, that is the way the grain will be. If you try to change it, and you can temporally, it will return to this grain when washed. So don't worry too much about it. ("Our grandmothers" didn't, they used what they had and didn't bother too much with grain for the most part.) Remember that you will be squaring up the selvedge end of the strip too.

Pati, > I haven't seen this asked before, but does the salvage have any markings on

And make sure the folds are parallel, in other words, both folds must line up with a line on the ruler.

Pati, > But it might not help much. More often than not, the cross grain and the

What others have said and... if you are cutting a fabric with a horizontal stripe or other pattern and want that to be straight on your pieces, match the pattern, not the selvedges. The selvedges may not match, but your pattern will be okay.

Julia > I haven't seen this asked before, but does the salvage have any markings on

One more thing! Following onto Julia's advice .... when you cut a stripe, plaid or such, be sure to cut ONE layer at a time. You might prefer to use scissors for that. HTH.