Lengthwise grain
Warp yarns run parallel to the selvedge; they are the strongest and stretch least. Most pieces are placed on this grain, with the pattern's grainline parallel to it.
Remember: the grainline on a pattern must be exactly parallel to the selvedge. Measure from both ends of the arrow to the selvedge to check.
Crossgrain
Weft yarns run from selvedge to selvedge and have a little more give than the lengthwise grain.
Bias
The diagonal at 45° to the yarns. It stretches and drapes the most, and is used for binding that wraps curves and for bias-cut dresses.
Selvedge
The finished woven edge on each side of the fabric. It doesn't fray but is often tighter than the rest, so pieces aren't placed right on it.
Napped fabrics
Velvet, velour, corduroy and faux fur change shade with the direction of the pile, so all pieces are laid one way (a "with nap" layout). The same goes for one-way prints.
Vionnet and the bias
Madeleine Vionnet, who opened her house in 1912, made bias cutting a whole style of dressmaking, so fabric drapes and wraps the body.
Learn to cut right first time
Grain, pattern layout and saving fabric, in Anna Stella's Manchester sewing classes.
Sources
- Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing, Reader's Digest.
- Winifred Aldrich, Metric Pattern Cutting for Womenswear, Wiley-Blackwell.
- Betty Kirke, Madeleine Vionnet, Chronicle Books.
- Sara J. Kadolph, Textiles, Pearson.