59: Shira Cuts

 Remember Shira? The little doll who designed her Bat Mitzvah dress?

She’s at it again! This time she has designed and is making a full-length lined skirt with an invisible zipper set. In this post Shira shows how to correctly cut fabric.
See Shira cut her skirt live as she starts to ut her full-length, lined skirt.

12-inch shears are used in industry to cut fabric. They are slid on the table as the fabric is cut.

Shira is using 12-inch shears, as done in high-end designing departments. Note that she slides the shears along on the table as she cuts.

Sandwiching difficult fabrics between tracing paper makes for accurate cutting. Note that the pins  are back from the edges of the pattern.

The lining and the shell’s fabrics have been plied so as to speed the cutting. To ensure accurate cutting the fabric is sandwiched between tracing paper. The tracing paper was first spread out over the table, then first the lining, and then the self-fabric was laid over the tracing paper. Finally the pattern was laid on top. Because the pattern was not cut out, there was no need to lay tracing paper over the underlying plies.

Shira cuts from right-to-left, as done in the industry. Her fabric is sandwiched between underlying tracing paper and the pattern which has not been cut.

If the fabric is off grain, use the instructions in this diagram to straighten it.

Note that Shira is cutting from left-to-right, as done in industry.

Her fabric is on grain. But if the fabric had been off grain she would have had to straighten it.

.