Grain
In sewing, grain is the direction of the threads in a woven fabric: lengthwise along the warp, crosswise along the weft.
A woven cloth has a lengthwise grain, parallel to the selvage, and a crosswise grain at right angles to it. The diagonal between them is the bias. Each direction behaves differently: the lengthwise grain barely stretches, the crosswise a little, the bias a lot.
Why do patterns have grain lines?
Because a piece cut “off grain” twists and hangs badly. The arrow printed on a paper pattern must be laid parallel to the selvage.
Sources
- Grain (AAT 300219467). Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Grain (Q31884431). Wikidata
See also
Last updated · Markdown