So there I was, all set to cut out a BWOF blouse with this cotton lycra plissé I had picked up at one of my favorite NYC fabric stores, when I discovered it was printed off-grain. Sob! With a grid design like this, there's no disguising a fabric snafu. Think of how hinky the hem would look, for example. Since I didn't have enough fabric to cut on the bias, my blouse was scrapped and I used this fabric for a dress muslin I made for my daughter. Have you had your own run-ins with off-grain fabric, dear readers? Do tell.
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Follow-up: Thanks so much for all the compliments on my BWOF tunic! It's sort of a style departure for me but I really like it. Now if we can just get the warm weather to stick around here so I can actually wear it sometime.
And many of you weighed in with comments about Zara's shortcut Chanel-style jackets. Though making a jacket has now moved down on my sewing priority list (DD wants some new sundresses and STAT!), when I do make it I will be trying some of Zara's techniques. I'll let you know how it goes.
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Weekend plans: We're crazy busy this weekend with functions on Saturday and Sunday, plus this is DH's and my annual weekend to clean out the garage. (It acts as a repository throughout the year for all the junk we're too lazy to throw out or don't know where to put.) Not much sewing on the docket, but I do think I'll be able to finish up this Vogue dress (the sleeveless version). Have a great weekend everyone!
19 comments:
I am making my grand daughter an outfit right now that has off-grain issues. I knew this would happen, but I am making it work. I will post about it sometime soon.
It's really too bad about your fabric. It is so pretty and would have been a wonderful blouse.
Sorry about your fabric, but glad that you posted about off-grain. I've had fabric that was off-grain, but didn't know it at the time and for the life of me couldn't understand it and kept cutting the fabric to get it straight... only to realize it wasn't working and in the end didn't have enough for the intended project....(sheesh)
That Vogue dress looks interesting. I have that pattern and can't wait to see what you do with it!
Uhh huh. My Weekender bag fabric from Joanns. Markedly off grain. Grrrr.
Off grain fabric is a crime- and a recipe for frustration if you use it. I turned mine into tote bags for the grocery store. Muslins are another good use. After getting burned a couple times now I scrutinize incoming fabric with a careful eye
I hate hate hate off grain fabrics. It's so frustrating. The worst was 20 yards of plaid I bought for kitchen curtains about ten years ago. I think it's still stuffed somewhere in the house. Couldn't use it. It was awful. And I hate when they cut the fabric off grain because it's been cut incorrectly before. So you end up with 6 or 7 inches of unusable fabric.
Hey--we are cleaning out the garage in Chicago this weekend. I'll be thinking of you! How have we accumulate more bikes than family members and why can't my husband throw out his Starbuck coffee cups--the garbage can is a few feet away? urghh...Have fun!
I love the vogue dress-- can't wait to see the fabric choice. I can see it making a nice lbd.
Off grain print it very frustrating! Sometimes you can work around it, but more often than not, it's no usable.
Second try at posting. A thunderstorm went thru and blocked the satellite!
My first job out of college was in a garment factory, a really big one, in New Bedford, Mass. The piece goods would come in on huge rolls. They were unrolled, inspected, and rolled back up.We never used prints but if they were printed, once again they were rolled at high speeds. Then they were sent to the sponging company in Boston, unrolled and rolled up again, all of this at a high rate of speed. Now you add to this that the fabric is wound onto those cardboard bolt holders, again at a fast rate of speed, and it is a miracle if something is ever on grain. I do not ever blame the retailer. It is just not their fault. I think the only solution here is to have the salesperson at the fabric store rip the fabric and you straighten the grain when you get home OR go to a store that will give you at least an eighth or better yet, a quarter yard extra for truing up the fabric. Good luck finding that store. I find washing my fabric can sometimes move the grain back in line a bit and will do that before pulling. For the most part, I just order extra fabric so I can deal with it being off grain. I really think this is one of those things where complaining won't change things. That's why we are taught how to straighten the grain. It is too sad when the print is offline, like yours, Lindsay. No help there. At least you got that muslin out of it.
Sometimes it's worth cutting a garment with the print rather than perfectly on grain. A lot depends on the fabric weight/weave and the pattern being used. I might try it with a simple pattern. But sometimes it's clearly time to cut your losses and move on! Thanks for sharing your process!
My most aggravating case of fabric printed off grain was an expensive Liberty printed corduroy bought at the Liberty store in London. I bought it to make a jacket for my mother-in-law for a Christmas present. I absolutely could not believe that for the money I spent on this fabric it was so badly skewed. By the time realized the problem back home in GA it was too late to do anything about returning it. I ended up making the jacket and as Goodworks1 suggests, I cut it with the print instead of on grain. It looked OK for her to open. We don't live anywhere close by so I never saw her wear it and have no idea how it held up. And I have become very careful to look closely at prints before I purchase them.
LoisK
I've pretty much come to the conclusion that off-grain prints are the norm, rather than the exception. I don't know that I've ever had a print that involved motifs in any kind of line that really and truly lined up all the way across the fabric. Often it's ok on the lengthwise grain, but skewed on the crosswise, as if the fabric was being pulled on the selvages and the middle part was dragging behind. Frustrating to be sure!!
I haven't had an off-grain prob as such but more a cross-grain problem. I bought some satin with Winnie the Pooh on it to make PJs for my then 4yo daughter. Well, Pooh was printed on the cross grain! Made for interesting PJs!!
I'm a little like Lisa L....I think this happens way more than I would like to think. And at lease you found out before you put all your hard earned time in it. I think I would try and find something that doesn't show the grain so much - wrap-ish or something like that, but basically it's just a tough deal - glad it happens to someone besides me!
I just had an off-grain print situation this weekend. Luckily, I was working on a loose fitting dress and grain was negotiable.
Oh yeah, I sure have. In fact, it doesn't matter where I get it from--high end or at Walmart. I'm getting smarter though, and looking at the crossgrain threads in relation to the print lately. The more it happens, we get smarter to ask, "Can you please tear off a small piece on the cross grain or pull a thread for me?" This just happened to some baby-print flannel for an embroidered blanket I'm making for my great nephew. I just cut it off grain 'cuz it's not going to matter for a blanket. Still annoyed me though.
I've found slightly off-grain prints to be fairly common with Liberty cottons. When the print is random, I cut on-grain. When the print is going to be noticeably off if I cut on-grain, then I follow the line of the print. Surprisingly, though it's cut a bit off-grain, it doesn't twist or hang strangely.
In Cynthia Guffey's DVD "Preparation for Sewing" she takes a piece of fabric that is off-grain and shows how to fix it!
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