Basic Sewing: Terms & Techniques

Baste - machine: the longest straight stitch on your sewing machine
hand: a 1/4" - 1/2" running stitch
USE: tack things together temporarily

Bias -
an imaginary line that runs at a 45 degree angle from the Selvedge edge. If the fabric is a perfect square, then folding it along the bias gives you a perfect triangle with all your edges lined up (sort of like folding an origami square into a triangle).

Grain of the Fabric -
This is the imaginary line that runs parallel to the selvedge edge and what weavers call the 'warp' of the fabric.

Seam Finish -
USE: stitching applied to the raw edges of a seam to prevent undue raveling & to give a neat appearance
COMMENT: There are many ways to do this. When it is called for in one of my patterns, I will give a suggested Technique as well.

Selvedge Edge -
The finished edges of the fabric that run the length of the bolt.

Straightening the grain -
Your fabric has the finished-looking Selvedge edge and the edges where they cut it off the bolt at the store. An inch from the cut edge, put a small slice in the fabric perpendicular to the Selvedge - try to follow the line of the woven threads and make it about an inch long. Grab one tiny thread and try to pull it out. The fabric will pucker. Smooth out the puckers & pull more. The thread is probably going to break, which is OK. as you smooth the puckers, you should be able to clearly see the thread you are displacing (this is usually very clear on printed fabrics). Cut carefully along this displaced thread 'line'. When it breaks, cut up to the break & try to grad the same thread again or one right next to it. Go from one selvedge edge to the other. If you do both cut ends of the fabric, you can fold it in half lengthwise & line up the straightened edges. The fabric is not going to fold perfectly along the middle until you pull the warp & weft back into their proper positions. Pull the fabric along the bias & re-fold. If the problem got worse, then you need to pull the opposite way next time. if it got better, you are going the right way - keep pulling the fabric along the bias until it will fold in half perfectly like a piece of paper. At this point, the fabric has been 'Straightened on the grain'.

Warp & Weft -
Warp threads are the first threads put on a loom. they are the ones that run the full length of the fabric to be woven. The Weft threads are the ones that go side to side (think left & right with a lisp - Weft & Wight) over & under the warp threads.