Sharon Pederson - Lesson 1 Learning to Find the Straight of Grain

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Quilter, teacher, author, Sharon Pederson has done it all and now she is sharing with TQS tips and tricks she wishes she had learned as she was beginning to quilt. Up first, Sharon shows us how to find straight of grain in our fabric.

Comments

#5 JudithA 2016-01-28 17:53

I have found that yardage can hang flat and yet be seriously off grain IF it was rolled onto the bolt crooked or washed and dried. If you tear the fabric selvage to selvage, then you can really see if it was twisted off-grain. Once it has been torn selvage to selvage, hold it up like Sharon shows to see if it hangs straight. If it is torn and hangs obviously crooked, you can pull the fabric on the bias to get it back into square. Then press it. You are good to go. (This only works for woven fabrics - not knits.) Cutting straight of grain doesn;t matter as much when cutting small pieces, but it matters a lot when cutting large pieces, long sashing and border pieces. It can mean the difference between your quilt hanging straight or not.

#4 fleiner 2016-01-28 16:16

I wash my fabric and line dry it. When I hang it up, I pretty much follow this procedure. The advantage is when dealing with several yards of fabric. Because the fabric is wet, it is easier to bring it into grain, also I rip the fabric especially for borders.

#3 Lorraine 2016-01-27 22:40

There's the old Home Ec method of straightening the grain for the purist and dress makers, but Sharon's way is absolutely fine to use in quilting. If you are washing your fabric first, then it is an easy thing to stretch it into shape when the fabric is damp. The main thing is to have your ends straightened to a perfect 45 %, so that your cutting of pieces is perfectly accurate.

#2 Marie9 2016-01-27 18:36

The way to find true grain of the fabric is to either tear the end- which results in losing some fabric length, or pull a thread on the end of the fabric until you get to one that goes from selvedge to selvedge. Folding it like this may not result in finding the straight grain. When it is folded on the bolt it may become twisted and may look like it is straight- especially if you don't wash out the sizing that is put on it before you find the straight grain.

#1 Jill0622 2016-01-27 14:47

This is difficult to do if you have several yards of fabric. Can you use the same method with 2 people holding the yardage?

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