| To Tear or Cut, To Wash or Not |
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Thursday, Oct 8, 2009: Heading to Houston for International Quilt Market. I met a shop owner in the terminal as we waited for our delayed plane to arrive. We started discussing whether to tear fabric or cut it as a shop owner. She prefers to tear the fabric because it gives a straight grain on the cross grain. However, she is tired of the customers who complain about the torn fabric. They think they are going to lose fabric, because they only know aligning the fabric with the selvages. I told her I would put together a video that discussed the different grains and how to use all of the fabric no matter if the shop cut or tore the fabric. She also said they teach pressing fabrics with starch to stiffen them, whether they have been washed or not. She has found that this helps minimize the problems that quite often arise when quilters don’t know how to use their iron with steam. I’m not sure what amount of time this adds to her quilting process. For me, this would take more time than I can give to a project. I have deleted steps that I was taught when I realize that the step does not diminish the quality I need. I determine what the project is for and what level of perfection (or non-perfection) that I require. Most of my projects are made as samples for a book. They are not used except to display at shows or at guild presentations. They are not washed very often and remain folded on shelves when not packed in suitcases for trips. I like the finish of unwashed fabrics for the quilts. They have a new look to them for longer. So my fabrics are rarely washed prior to cutting and sewing the quilt. This saves me time in getting the project ready for photography. However, I do wash flannels which I use quite often for backing. They are washed because flannels tend to shrink more than regular cotton fabrics. I also realize that I risk having dyes running. If I have a fabric that has excess dye or unset dye, I will use Shout Color Catchers. (You can find them in the laundry detergent section of some stores.) I recently had a fabric that was running significantly and I kept the used Color Catchers to demonstrate the amount of dye that can be caught. Here are some photos of what happened with each wash. I have had a few projects where the dye was running. With Color Catchers I was able to get the remaining dye removed by washing several times with multiple sheets until the last sheet was almost clear. The shop owner recommended Retayne, a chemical used for setting the dye. She said the Color Catchers do only that – catch the dye. The fabric may continue to bleed depending on the situation and Retayne will stop the running. Try to determine what amount of time you want to spend on your project at the beginning or end. You can wash all of your fabrics, none of your fabrics, or anywhere in between. I recommend that you choose what works best for you rather than what I or anyone else says is THE RULE. The shop owner also said she teaches stretching the fabric and pressing the fabric to have both grains aligned. I would be concerned as to what this will do to the quilt when it is finally washed, because from what I have seen, the fabric will go back to what it was originally. I’ll have to do some tests on this to see what the results might be. I’ll keep you posted on this issue. I was taught to tear the fabric on the crosswise grain and align this for cutting strips. Most shops would tear the fabric because the rotary cutter was not available. Tearing was faster than cutting across with scissors. If the fabric was well made, both the crosswise grain and the lengthwise grain would be aligned. However, most fabrics don’t align that well. So you can have one grain or the other but most likely not both. The only benefit I have found for aligning the cross-grain, is that the strips do not ravel as much as I work with them as strips. Once they are cut into smaller pieces, the edge that is not aligned on grain will ravel more. |
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