Hi, Kat! Welcome to the sewing world! I'll take a stab at your questions:

1. Should I wash and iron the fabric before I cut it (cotton)?
If you plan to wash the garment after it's sewn, you should wash the fabric before hand. And you definitely need to iron it to get out any wrinkles before you start.

2. How do I determine if it should be 45" or 60" and what the heck does THAT mean?
Most woven fabrics manufactured in the US are either 44-45" inches wide or 58-60" inches wide. The fabric is folded lenthwise on the bolt, so that folded measurement will be 1/2 the width. The pattern instructions give different layouts for different widths of fabric. So...if you find the perfect fabric in 45" wide, you buy the yardage listed on the envelope for 45" wide fabric, then use the pattern layout for 45" wide fabric.

3. What's a "selvage?"
The selvages are the long finished edges of the fabric. They are woven more tightly than the rest of it, and you should trim them off before you begin laying out or cutting your pattern.

4. What if you can't tell the "right side" from the "wrong side" of the fabric?
If you can't tell, then it probably doesn't matter which side you use. Most patterns call for the fabric to be folded right sides together when cutting. After I cut, I pull the 2 layers apart and put a safety pin in each piece facing each other to show which is the right side. Even though the fabric looks the same on both sides, once you have pieces cut out you need to know which is which so you don't end up with 2 left sleeves or something!

Another thing that is important is to place the pattern pieces on the fabric according to the grain lines on the pattern. The grainline arrow goes on the fabric lengthwise.

Patterns have lots of great instructions. They explain about selvages and grainlines and a bunch of other stuff.

Hope this helps!
Donna

Thanks, Donna! Yes, your explanations have helped a bunch because I actually understand them! LOL! (Well... except for maybe what you said about grain lines. I guess you're saying that the grain lines in the fabric are kind of like wood grain. My mama always taught me to dust "with" the grain in furniture. In fabric, when you say that the "grainline arrow goes on the fabric lengthwise," I'm assuming you mean the "long" length of the folded fabric [with that grain line]. I could be wrong.)

Thank so much!

I'm sure I'll have more questions!

Kat

Yes, that's exactly what the grainline is. If you don't get the pieces straight on the grain they stretch and hang funny. Plus if you're using stripes they would be crooked! :)

i disagree about cutting off selvages. and you have to make sure that the fabric is "straight" meaning that the cross threads and long threads are at 90 angles. you can do this by pulling on opposite corners several times to straighten things up. sadly some fabric can't be straightened, because either it is processed off grain or the pattern is stamped on off grain and to straighten the fabric would change the pattern.

this is why beginners are best off starting with some solid fabrics or fabric where the pattern is woven in.

and fabric has two grain lines. the long way and the cross grain. then there is also the bias, which is laying a piece out using the diagonal direction which gives a woven fabric alot of stretch and drape. all will be used different ways.

Your fabric preparation, laying out and cutting are the most vital part of the sewing project because you can't correct flaws easily if you have cut them into the piece. so take alot of time and check twice.

oops and the way to know if you are on grain is to measure the distance that big line down a pattern piece is from the edges and make sure it is parallel to the edge.

discussing what to do is harder than following pictures so you might want to invest in a good basic sewing book. have fun !!!!

I bought "Sewing for Dummies" for someone learning & it is a good book. You may find good reference books at thift stores for basics but different fabrics, notions(your supplies) & tools surface & they wouldn't cover everything out there today.

Have fun learning.

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions!

I really appreciate it!

I'll keep you posted. :)

Kat

The "right" side is the side facing out, usually, when you buy the fabric. I haven't bought a pattern in a while, but I never saw a layout which said put the right sides together. If you do that, then you'd have to turn the pieces to mark them--darts, dots, etc.

I never cut the selvages off either before I cut a pattern, and I've been sewing since I was 5, and am about 55 years older than that now.

You don't have to wash the fabric before, but it might shrink a bit when you wash it, so take that into consideration. A lot of cotton fabric is preshrunk, but not all of it.

For a costume, I probably wouldn't wash it, unless he's going to be wearing it plenty of times.

Good comparison there with the wood grains, yes, they're essentially the same, and I never thought of that in all my years of sewing.

To get the patterns straight on the grain line, lay a piece on the fabric where it shows on the layout, pin one end of the arrow, then measure from the arrow to the edge of the fabric. Now, at the other end of the arrow, measure until the measurements are the same, then pin that end of the arrow. This will ensure the grainline is "true".

I made my son a frontiersman costume once, and he won first in the Halloween parade. It was his favorite costume. I loved making their Halloween costumes.

Marge,

For some reason or another your post tickled me...

Hmmmmm.... Could it be the word math problem you presented (5 + 55 ='s ?), or maybe it was just because we're frontiersman costume kindred spirits (or, maybe it was your compliment on my "wood grain" comparison... lol!).

You said, "To get the patterns straight on the grain line, lay a piece on the fabric where it shows on the layout..."

Lay what on the fabric? The pattern? (Remember you're talkin to Clueless in Kentucky here....) I'm thinking the answer is "Duh!"

I've decided to not wash the fabric for a couple of reasons.

1. This is my first bonafide sewing project and I just wanna work with the fabric as is (kind of like a test) to see what it turns out to be.

2. It's just a costume. Yes, my son will were it again and again and again (as previous costumes can attest) but it is, after all, just a silly costume.

Thanks.

Kat

yep, lay one of your pattern pieces on the fabric. I've never trimmed my selvages off either. Everyone was new to sewing at one time. I've been sewing 30+ years, and I still don't know everything. Feel free to ask any "silly" sewing question that you have.

What's a "selvage?"
"The selvages are the long finished edges of the fabric. They are woven more tightly than the rest of it, and you should trim them off before you begin laying out or cutting your pattern"

I agree with you Donna! The reason the selvages should be trimmed off is because as you stated, they are woven more tightly than the fabric itself. Trimming them off allows the fabric to relax and eliminate distortion. They are not meant to be included in a design. This applies to Decorator fabrics as well. Curtains and draperies made with the selvage intact will never hang correctly! :>)

I was taught to not cut off the selvages before laying out the pattern, but NOT to include them in the cut pieces because selvages will sometimes shrink up differently than the fabric itself due to the tight weave, particularly if you have not pre-shrunk your fabric. This would mean, for example, not putting the edge of a straight pattern piece right along the selvage. This can distort your project. I have heard of people using cut-off selvages as stabilizers instead of twill tape in areas like shoulder seams on unstable fabric.

Mary