---
title: "Grain"
description: "In sewing, grain is the direction of the threads in a woven fabric: lengthwise along the warp, crosswise along the weft."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/grain
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# 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](https://teazle.art/glossary/selvage.md), 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

1. [Grain (AAT 300219467)](http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300219467). Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
2. [Grain (Q31884431)](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q31884431). Wikidata

Canonical: https://teazle.art/glossary/grain