Off the Grain

My dear Aunt Estelle was a seamstress.  She sewed for other people for her "pocket" money.  She was a very talented seamstress and very good at fitting.  I wish she had taught me fitting, but I didn't need much fitting in those days, except for shortening everything.  Of course, I never saw Aunt Estelle in pants either, so she didn't have that fitting challenge.  I'm really showing my age, aren't I?

Every summer I would spend two weeks at Aunt Estelle's.  She taught me to sew and I will savor her memory forever because of that.  My mother loved to sew, but she did not like to teach.  It made her nervous, so Aunt Estelle was my teacher.

One of the first things that Aunt Estelle taught me was to straighten the fabric.  Back then fabric was usually 36" wide, with 45" about the widest you could find in the store.  We would clip at the end of the yardage  and pull one thread all the way across.  That took a bit of time because the thread would pull three or four inches, if I was lucky, and then it would break.  I would take the scissors and carefully cut as far as I could on the line that was made by pulling that string.  With my luck, it always seemed that about three inches from the far side, the thread I was pulling would disappear into the cut end of the fabric and not make it all the way across to the other selvedge.  Then I painfully started over. (With a big, deep sigh!)  Then we would fold it in half with the selvedges together.  If the ends came together and the fabric laid nicely at the fold then the fabric was on grain and we were ready to start pinning on the pattern.  Unfortunately, that seldom happened.  So we would unfold the fabric and she would take one corner and I would take the opposite corner and we would tug the fabric on the bias until when we folded the selvedges together the ends were even and the fold laid smoothly.  When I was by myself I would start at one corner and again work my way down the length of the fabric tugging on the bias every few inches.  Believe me, that is quite a  workout!

When I started quilting about ten years ago, I was told I didn't have to do all that tugging anymore.  To square the fabric, you simply folded it in half with the selvedges together.  When the fold was laying nicely with no wrinkles, and the selvedges were together, you took a long ruler and placed it square with the fold and took your sharp rotary cutter and cut the uneven area off.  I was also told that if you go to all the trouble to tug the bias until it was straight on grain, it would just go back to being off the grain later.  I don't remember the fabric returning to being off grain when we tugged it until it was straight.  Believe me, when we man-handled it into place, it wasn't going anywhere.  In quilting you are cutting small pieces, so it may not matter if the fabric is a little off grain, but when you are making a coat or a pair of pants, it really is important.

Four years ago, I started making all my clothes.  I have found that most fabrics don't have to be pulled and tugged until they are on the straight of grain.  Manufacturing methods have changed and improved and fabric isn't so distorted.  But once in a while you get a fabric that is off grain and you have to get it back on grain. Sometimes, it is the best fabric that is off grain.  Instead of the 36"-45" wide fabric of my teens, the fabric is 45"-60", but my arms didn't get any longer, and I'm not  nearly as limber or strong as I used to be.  If there is anything that I would say I dislike about sewing, it is having to straighten off grain fabric.

Yesterday, as I laid out my fabric to cut my pants out, I discovered that the fabric was one of THOSE!  I have had my husband help me a couple of times, but he just isn't as efficient as Aunt Estelle was.  I even had to explain what I meant by the term, "bias".  But yesterday that would have meant going in the living room to get his help.  Since the living room was full of kids (grandkids plus the neighbor kids) I decided I would just do it by myself.  Believe me that isn't so easy to do when the fabric is wider than you are long!  I did the best I could, but it wasn't perfectly straight.  By the time I said, "Good enough!" I was worn out.

I didn't think to take pictures before so you could see how much off the grain it was.  The fabric was from Cloth Merchants in Tulsa, and bless their hearts, they pull the thread across and cut it off the bolt so you know the cut ends are straight.  At least I didn't have to do that.  I do have a few pictures of it after I worked on it.

 A definite sign that the fabric is off grain.  The selvedges aren't together and below you can see the  "lump" in the folded edge.  I would like to say this is how it started up, but this was the best I could get it.  The picture above makes it look worse than it actually was.  

I don't know what I did this time, but I can't get the printing down below the bottom picture.  That is all for now.  I'll show you pictures of my pants later this week.  It is time to go to bed.

Oh, forgot to say, daughter, SIL and grandkids went home tonight after dinner, which SIL & DH made.
Happy Sewing, Hugs, Phylly