Help drawing (and cutting) a straight line

JoeyEmma

The other month I posted on here about OS soft furnishings. Following on from the advice I bought some Simplicity Sewing for Dummies patterns.

Anyway, I have started making my first roman blind. I have cut the panels and sewn them together as instructed, however I have just discovered that the blind narrows by about 2cm from the top to the bottom.

Now, I spent ages finding the grain of the fabric, pinning together along the selveges (or whatever they are called) and its still wonky.

In essence, I can not cut out and sew a rectangle that is 120cm x 165cm.

I need help!

Queenie

Because I quilt, I invested in (put them on my Christmas List one year and Santa was kind ) a cutting mat which is needed for a rotary cutter then, using an omnigrid ruler you can line up your fabric, cut straight lines and measure all at the same time.

You can see what I mean at Saveoncrafts (I'm not recommending that site, just linking to it so you can see the products I'm referring to). They are an 'investment' so if you plan on doing a lot of sewing, they will pay for themselves over and over.

HTH

bertha

If you're being really careful to cut parallel and at right angles to the selvedge and along the grain, and the resulting rectangle doesn't look right, give the fabric a good yank diagonally in both directions. It's a good idea to do this with all fabrics before you cut.