Uploaded April 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Listen to the full episode here
sewhere.com/podcast/sewing-out-loud/tearing-wovens-indie-pattern-knowledge
These show notes may contain affiliate links. When you click through and make a purchase, SewHere receives a commission at no cost to you.
Today’s podcast is a question and answer session! We asked for topic suggestions and questions in The Self Sewn Wardrobe group a while back, and we were not disappointed.
Sometimes, we have to remember that everyone is at a different place in their sewing journey, and maybe they weren’t around when we’ve answered questions before- so getting topic suggestions from you all is so important!
Tearing vs Cutting Wovens
Colette asks: “Tearing vs. cutting wovens. Is one better than the other and why did fabric stores stop the practice?”
Let’s discuss why you’d tear a woven fabric and when it might be useful. When you tear a woven fabric, you are finding the true grain of the fabric, because if it does tear, it tears along one thread. You’ll also find that your fabric might not be on grain. Fabric gets contorted when it’s been on the bolt or it’s been stored improperly. Bolts that are stored upright on their ends can easily get out of shape.
Colette’s experience seems to be that fabric stores used to tear her woven fabrics, and now they don’t. When Zede managed a fine fabric store, we would tear when we could. The alternate method to find the grain is to clip the selvage and pull a thread to find the grain. Some wovens won’t tear. Twills, unevenly woven fabrics, or fabrics made from very strong fibers. So, tearing is not always an option in the first place. If you know that your fabric is on grain in the first place, making a straight cut after you have a good start will ensure that your cuts are on grain.
Why did fabric stores stop? Maybe they don’t want you to know it’s off grain! Ha! Another motivation behind Colette’s question is probably that she’s received cuts of fabric that are terribly off-grain. Us too! We think that the employees in most fabric stores nowadays are not trained sufficiently to know when to tear fabrics, what will tear well, or even how to identify the grain of the fabric. It can be a time consuming practice, and most stitchers would probably be happy to accommodate the time- but company’s aren’t interested in compensating people for the time it takes to do this.
Tearing can freak customers out too! The sound can be unnerving. Also, certain fabrics that can tear, shouldn’t be torn. Tearing can sometimes distort the edge of the fabric. If you’ve ever torn a polyester satin, it can almost looked melted on the ends.
Another useful tip is that you can tear fabric to find the grain, but do not tear pattern pieces. If you need a bunch of 4″ strips, don’t clip into the selvage every 4″ and then expect the strips to be the perfect width. Torn edges can be wavy, and have stray threads poking out. Tear to find the straight of grain on your fabric, but then cut your pattern pieces with your rotary cutter or scissors- even if they are a bunch of pieces with straight edges.
Even though knits can’t be torn, they deserve some attention here. It’s very easy to get knits of grain, and then they continue to get off grain as more and more cuts are taken off the bolt. It’s harder to determine the grain of a knit. Do so by lining up the selvage edges. and making sure it’s hanging straight
Sometimes fabric can appear off-grain, but they’re actually just distorted, you can wet it down and reblock the fabric into shape. Sort of like a knitter blocks a shawl. You’ll need to identify the grain first.
Indie PDF Pattern Knowledge
Anne asks: “Are PDF patterns ruining my sewing game? I’ve been sewing garments for almost 2 years and everything I know I’ve learned from indie pattern makers. Sometimes different patterns have conflicting information (do you sew a knit sleeve in before or after sewing up the bodice side seams?) and I worry that I’m learning bad techniques. Of course I supplement with everything I glean from Mal and Zede, but still, I worry that I’m missing out on the “right way” to sew by using only indie patterns.”
A couple people in the group beat us to the punch by saying that there’s no wrong way to learn! We’ve seen bad instructions from Indie patterns and the “Big Four”.
Zede says she remembers when she first started learning to sew that Butterick patterns seemed harder to understand, but she liked their patterns. Then, she got to the point where she didn’t need to read the instructions
The issue of whether or not you sew a sleeve in before seeming up the bodice is a fun question to explore. There might be a reason to do it one way or another- and both can be right! Say you’re sewing for show choir and making 42 knit tops, and you know you might have alterations to make. We’d sew the seam in flat, because we know we might zip right up the side seam and down t
Listen to the full episode here
sewhere.com/podcast/sewing-out-loud/tearing-wovens-indie-pattern-knowledge
These show notes may contain affiliate links. When you click through and make a purchase, SewHere receives a commission at no cost to you.
Today’s podcast is a question and answer session! We asked for topic suggestions and questions in The Self Sewn Wardrobe group a while back, and we were not disappointed.
Sometimes, we have to remember that everyone is at a different place in their sewing journey, and maybe they weren’t around when we’ve answered questions before- so getting topic suggestions from you all is so important!
Tearing vs Cutting Wovens
Colette asks: “Tearing vs. cutting wovens. Is one better than the other and why did fabric stores stop the practice?”
Let’s discuss why you’d tear a woven fabric and when it might be useful. When you tear a woven fabric, you are finding the true grain of the fabric, because if it does tear, it tears along one thread. You’ll also find that your fabric might not be on grain. Fabric gets contorted when it’s been on the bolt or it’s been stored improperly. Bolts that are stored upright on their ends can easily get out of shape.
Colette’s experience seems to be that fabric stores used to tear her woven fabrics, and now they don’t. When Zede managed a fine fabric store, we would tear when we could. The alternate method to find the grain is to clip the selvage and pull a thread to find the grain. Some wovens won’t tear. Twills, unevenly woven fabrics, or fabrics made from very strong fibers. So, tearing is not always an option in the first place. If you know that your fabric is on grain in the first place, making a straight cut after you have a good start will ensure that your cuts are on grain.
Why did fabric stores stop? Maybe they don’t want you to know it’s off grain! Ha! Another motivation behind Colette’s question is probably that she’s received cuts of fabric that are terribly off-grain. Us too! We think that the employees in most fabric stores nowadays are not trained sufficiently to know when to tear fabrics, what will tear well, or even how to identify the grain of the fabric. It can be a time consuming practice, and most stitchers would probably be happy to accommodate the time- but company’s aren’t interested in compensating people for the time it takes to do this.
Tearing can freak customers out too! The sound can be unnerving. Also, certain fabrics that can tear, shouldn’t be torn. Tearing can sometimes distort the edge of the fabric. If you’ve ever torn a polyester satin, it can almost looked melted on the ends.
Another useful tip is that you can tear fabric to find the grain, but do not tear pattern pieces. If you need a bunch of 4″ strips, don’t clip into the selvage every 4″ and then expect the strips to be the perfect width. Torn edges can be wavy, and have stray threads poking out. Tear to find the straight of grain on your fabric, but then cut your pattern pieces with your rotary cutter or scissors- even if they are a bunch of pieces with straight edges.
Even though knits can’t be torn, they deserve some attention here. It’s very easy to get knits of grain, and then they continue to get off grain as more and more cuts are taken off the bolt. It’s harder to determine the grain of a knit. Do so by lining up the selvage edges. and making sure it’s hanging straight
Sometimes fabric can appear off-grain, but they’re actually just distorted, you can wet it down and reblock the fabric into shape. Sort of like a knitter blocks a shawl. You’ll need to identify the grain first.
Indie PDF Pattern Knowledge
Anne asks: “Are PDF patterns ruining my sewing game? I’ve been sewing garments for almost 2 years and everything I know I’ve learned from indie pattern makers. Sometimes different patterns have conflicting information (do you sew a knit sleeve in before or after sewing up the bodice side seams?) and I worry that I’m learning bad techniques. Of course I supplement with everything I glean from Mal and Zede, but still, I worry that I’m missing out on the “right way” to sew by using only indie patterns.”
A couple people in the group beat us to the punch by saying that there’s no wrong way to learn! We’ve seen bad instructions from Indie patterns and the “Big Four”.
Zede says she remembers when she first started learning to sew that Butterick patterns seemed harder to understand, but she liked their patterns. Then, she got to the point where she didn’t need to read the instructions
The issue of whether or not you sew a sleeve in before seeming up the bodice is a fun question to explore. There might be a reason to do it one way or another- and both can be right! Say you’re sewing for show choir and making 42 knit tops, and you know you might have alterations to make. We’d sew the seam in flat, because we know we might zip right up the side seam and down t
