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Member since 3/9/09
Posts: 11323
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Posted on: 8/27/09 2:28 PM ET
Sewing books are so funny; they tell you to "find a crosswise line of loops and cut along them". Uh huh. What part of "fine knits = pretty much invisible loops" do they not understand?

Oh but they have the answer to that! "If the loops aren't easily seen, mark the course with a marker or thread tracing first".

Oh sure. If I can't see to cut, I can see to thread trace??! I have two things to say about that!

1. Not in this lifetime!
2. See #1.

Another favorite joke the sewing books love to tell you is to find a vertical rib somewhere approximately down the fabric center, and fold the knit all along that vertical rib. If the knit is a ribbing fabric with really defined ribs, I'd say that's a jolly good idea.

Otherwise see #1 above.

Claire Shaeffer, my hero, does something different. She uses her dining table. She lines up the two selvedges with two edges of her table, and cuts straight across one crosswise edge using the end of her table as the cutting guide.

If I had a 60" dining table, that would work for me. But I live in a studio apartment with a 28" square table.

But my kitchen floor is vinyl with a "tile" pattern. AhhhHA!

I line one selvedge of my fabric along a vertical "tile" line of the floor. The other selvedge may not line up exactly to a vertical "tile" line on the other side, but I ensure this selvedge is an equal distance from the closest "tile" line on the floor. Then I cut straight across the top, following a horizontal "tile" pattern line on my floor.

When I then fold my fabric for pattern-cutting, I make sure the top cut edges are lined up with each other and that there are no ripples along the fold line(s), and my fabric is ready for pattern-cutting.

Where there's a will...!
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I heart Woo (HimmyCat). Until we meet again, my beautiful little boy. I love you.
  
Member since 8/5/07
Posts: 115
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Posted on: 8/28/09 3:22 PM ET
In reply to LynnRowe
Hi Lynn
All my sympathy goes to you on the kitchen floor! I have also done a lot of graining and cutting in a similar way...

Sarah Veblen has a great tip on graining knits. It has to do with folding the fabric lengthwise and holding it up by the selvedges and shift one of the layers in order to make the folded fabric hang straight.

I don't know if this is one of her tips you can find online, but it is part of her excellent "understanding knits" class.
  
Member since 3/9/09
Posts: 11323
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Posted on: 8/28/09 7:51 PM ET
In reply to Marie Norway
Hi Marie, I used to do that myself, and still check that there are no ripples on the fold(s) after I do the "kitchen floor" method.

With the super-fine knit fabrics available nowadays, those ribs are next to impossible to find, let alone fold along or thread-trace! Life is just way too short, lol!
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I heart Woo (HimmyCat). Until we meet again, my beautiful little boy. I love you.
  
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