Straightening the edges of fabric by the meter – is that even necessary? In this post, I'll reveal why it's smart to neaten up your fabric edges. And what you can do with the scraps!
Cutting fabric: You should neaten up your fabric edges
Admittedly: There are more important things to worry about than jagged, frayed fabric edges. You could be thinking about your next wonderful sewing project.
But as soon as you start working and take a piece of fabric off the shelf, those corners and fringes stare right back at you!
And by now, at the latest, you're asking yourself: Why do we actually do this – not cut the frayed edges of fabric remnants straight?
I can only speak for myself: I always think, maybe I can use this one little scrap for something.
And the moment I think that, I actually have ideas for how I could use even the tiniest piece of fabric.
But when I actually need small scraps, it never occurs to me which fabric pieces might still have potential snippets attached to them.
Why you should neaten up the edges of your fabrics
- Because jagged edges and clutter put you in a bad mood. Look into your fabric closet - the first thing you see isn't the wonderful fabric, but the jagged corners and cut edges peeking out everywhere. And a bad mood is the enemy of joyful creativity.
- It’s just fun to look at your fabric treasures when they are nicely sorted and well-maintained – sewing ideas will come all on their own!
- Because you will never find those scraps again when you actually need one. Let's be honest: before you rummage through your entire fabric arsenal to find them, you'll have bought new fabric three times over, right?
- Because fabric pieces with straight edges are much easier and better to fold.
- Because scraps are much better off in a dedicated scrap box. You can hoard tiny quantities there and search specifically when you need them (for example, to sew great eco-friendly makeup remover pads). By the way, it can make sense to sort and label your scraps too. For example, I collect cotton, jersey/ribbing, and apparel fabrics in three separate boxes. That way, I always have the right thing at hand if I want to quickly sew arm warmers or conjure up a doll bed from a jersey scrap.
Straightening the edges of fabric by the meter – here's how!
Iron the fabric.
Place the ruler along the grain line.
Neaten the fabric edge with a rotary cutter.
Store fabric snippets and trimmings in a corresponding scrap box.
For jersey, instead of a rotary cutter, you can also neatly finish the fabric edges with an overlocker. Then they won't curl up so easily during later processing. :)
Sew great things out of the scraps. For example, a
Nanami makeup bag made of squares.
Or an
Alsterprinzessin cosmetic bag made of fabric strips:
Happy simple cutting,
your Sabine
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