How to Square Up Fabric for Cutting

Sign up for the free NQC newsletter to receive the latest videos, articles, and tips straight from quilting experts! 🧵 https://bit.ly/3P5Jv2l Learning how to square up fabric before cutting any pieces for your next quilt is an important lesson. Heather Thomas teaches you how she squares up fabric after it has been pre-washed and gets it ready to be used. Fabric: Heather first begins by explaining how she likes to pre-wash her fabric. If you plan to do this step it should be done after you bring the fabric home from the fabric store- before you do any other preparation with it. She then explains how she dries the fabric, which is different depending on if she plans to use it right away or not. Sign up for the free NQC newsletter to receive the latest videos, articles, and tips straight from quilting experts! 🧵 https://bit.ly/3P5Jv2l Once the fabric has been washed and dried she explains how to fold the fabric selvage to selvage, explaining where to find the selvage on a piece of fabric. She then shows how to manipulate the selvage if needed due to it shrinking when washing. Once the fabric is folded, she explains what the new ‘true’ straight edge is to base your cuts off of. This edge then gets lined up with a line on your cutting mat and the raw edges can be cut. Learning to square up your fabric like this not only ensures that any strips or pieces you cut will be straight but it helps ensure a square quilt in the end. Heather also gives tips on what size of ruler she likes to use when squaring up fabric as well as tips on how to best hold the ruler so it doesn’t move when cutting. Once you have your fabric square you can cut all of your pieces and begin working on your next quilt. Even though you are piecing with precisely cut pieces of fabric, it is still also important to square up your quilt blocks with precision as well. Sign up for the free NQC newsletter to receive the latest videos, articles, and tips straight from quilting experts! 🧵 https://bit.ly/3P5Jv2l