Do you really have to cut fabric on the grainline? What happens if you sort of ignore the grainline
of your fabric? Oh and what even is the grainline? I'm meg from Seamwork and in this video I'm going
to answer the question do you really have to cut fabric on grain or is it okay to skip this step?
I will explain what the grainline is. I'll show you how to find the three grainlines on your
fabric and I'll demonstrate what happens when you don't cut on the grainline. Then I can tell you
definitively when you must cut on the grainline and when you might be able to wing it a little bit.
So first what is the grainline? It's the direction that the fibers are woven in your fabric.
You want to use the grainline to cut your fabric in a way so that it hangs nicely on your body,
it doesn't twist or pull, and it looks nice. I'm going to illustrate all of this on some
gingham because these cute little checks make it really easy for you to see what's going on. Okay
so there are three different grainlines to be aware of. The lengthwise or straight of grain,
this is the biggie, this is the one you'll use the most, the cross grain and the bias.
Let's take a look at all of these on the gingham. So your fabric has two finished edges,
which are the selvages. On woven fabrics the warp threads run parallel to the selvages
up and down like this. This is your lengthwise or straight grain. This is the line you'll most
commonly use to orient your pattern pieces as you cut them out. When a fabric is on grain or you're
supposed to cut on the grainline this is the line that we're talking about. Next is the cross grain.
The weft threads run from selvage to selvage like this and it is okay to cut fabrics on
the cross grain. It might have a little bit more mechanical stretch than the lengthwise grain but
you can play with stripes and plaids in a really fun way by having them go in different directions.
I'll show you on the Sonya dress. As you can see, the stripes go in different ways all over the
dress. I'll link to this pattern below if you want to try it. Feel free to cut the pockets, the yolk,
cut them on the cross grain and see what it looks like. Next up we have the bias, which runs diagonal
between the selvages. This is the stretchiest grain on your fabric, which is why we use it for bias
tape. This means it can stretch around curves like necklines. It's also okay to cut your pieces out on
the bias, some patterns specifically call for the bias because it wraps so lovely around your body.
I'll put a link to some of our bias cut Seamwork work patterns below. Just remember you don't want
to cut all pieces on the bias whenever you feel like it because that fabric is going to stretch.
Okay so those are the grainlines on woven fabric but what about knits?
Knits don't technically have a grainline in the same way that wovens do because they're not woven
together. The fibers are knit together but we do still refer to knits being on grain or off grain
and knits are often off grain. You can tell if your knit is straight by looking really closely
at a cotton jersey for example can you see these tiny little ribs that kind of look like the wales
on corduroy and they run parallel to the selvages. That is your grainline on a knit. The tricky thing
with knits is the direction of greatest stretch, our pattern maker calls it D.O.G.S., which is cool
because she loves dogs but I think it's also a real pattern making acronym. Anyway knits often
have the most stretch on the cross grain so you can line up your pattern pieces on the grainline
and then your fabric will stretch around your body but sometimes the fabric plays a little trick on
you and it actually has more stretch on the grainline. This is also called vertical stretch which is
different than horizontal stretch, so pay attention to the direction of greatest stretch, the D.O.G.S. when
you cut out your pattern pieces and you will be golden, like a retriever. So after you establish
the grainline on your fabric what comes next? Once you've found the grainline just match the
grainline on your pattern piece, you know those double headed arrows, those indicate the direction
that you want to cut out your fabric, so make the pattern pieces grainline arrow parallel to the
grainline on your fabric.You can use your ruler on either end of the arrow if you want to make
sure it's perfectly straight. This is also when you can decide to play with the grainline for
the cross grain line up the arrow on your pattern piece perpendicular to the fabric's lengthwise
grainline. For the bias, your arrow should be at a 45 degree angle to your fabric grainline.
By the way if it's a bias cut garment your arrows will likely already be diagonal on
the pattern pieces. And that's it! So the big question is what happens when you don't cut
on grain? Have you ever bought a shirt from the store and it twists around your body while you
wear it, and you have to keep pulling it so that it'll sit straight on your body? That shirt was not
cut on the grain. So first if it's off grain your fabric will twist around your body you'll be able
to see it and you'll be able to feel it when you wear it. This is because if it's off grain you're
actually cutting closer to the bias which if you remember increases the stretch of the fabric.
In drastic cases if your pattern pieces are not cut on grain your fabric really will stretch and
grow as you wear it. You'll be able to see it on the garment and finally your fabric will appear
visually off. It's going to look askew if you're using prints like this it'll be very obvious.
As you can see it's quite obvious on this gingham pocket piece. It was not cut
on grain. So when do you absolutely have to cut on the grain? Ideally it would be always but you
have to cut on the true bias tape for bias tape to work well. Remember it has to be able
to stretch. I tried faking the true bias when I cut out a piece of bias tape many years ago
and it definitely didn't stretch and I think it might be the most frustrated I've ever been while
sewing. You also usually want to cut knits with the greatest stretch wrapping around your body.
Horizontal stretch. Otherwise they'll get baggy as they stretch out vertically when you wear them.
There is two-way and four-way stretch in fa- in knit fabrics and if you want to know about that
let me know in the comments below and I'll make another video because it's a whole other topic.
Sleeves, pant legs, and other pattern pieces that wrap around your curves will twist
and warp so make sure you cut them on grain but remember the cross grain is often okay. So when can
you take a risk with your grainline? First fabric can sometimes be printed very off-grain this is
especially true with printed knits or wovens that have a printed pattern rather than a woven pattern.
If this is going to really distort the appearance of your fabric, it's your call if you want to
disregard the grainline and cut your fabric so that it at least appears visually straight.
Also if you can't see the ribs on your knit and you've spent an hour trying to get it on grain
and it keeps slipping around, I give you permission to take a risk and do your best to cut it on grain.
Finally you might be tempted to skip cutting small pattern pieces on grain like collars
because they're interfaced and the interfacing will prevent it from stretching but that really
depends on your interfacing because some interfacings have grainlines too. We have
a great article on interfacing that I will link to below and we talk about grainlines there as well.
Okay so that is an overview of the dangers of cutting off grain. With most things in life I
like to be a little off grain, when it comes to my fabric I really do try to follow the lines.
If you have questions ask me below and if you want to learn even more about the grainline
look for my next video where I will show you some tricks for getting your fabric on grain
if it's off grain. We also have all the information in these videos written down
and helpful articles on the Seamwork website in case that matches your learning style. I will
link to these articles below too. Thanks for watching and I will see you next time.