If you've ever tried to cut fat quarters or yardage out of a vintage sheet, you know how difficult it is. There is so much fabric, it is difficult to wrangle even on a large cutting surface. This method uses ripping and cutting to get more manageable pieces.
This tutorial outlines how to cut 19"x23" fat quarters from a flat sheet. I like to cut them a little big, because the ripping is not perfect. You are usually getting a straight rip, but because of shrinkage and potential warping, it's sometimes not exact. That extra inch gives you room to straighten and trim off the rough edges if you want! It works best with sheets that are 50/50 cotton polyester blends or 100% cotton. 100% polyester sheets tend to warp a lot when ripping, so proceed with caution!
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how to identify, shop for, and sew with vintage sheets.
1. First we need to remove the top and bottom hems. Take a pair of scissors and make a 1" (or so) cut parallel to the hem, about 2" from the hem.
2. Pick up your sheet, grabbing the sheet on either side of the cut with both hands, pull the sheet pieces apart, moving your hands horizontally away from each other.
3. Re-position your hands and continue to rip the sheet until you reach the end. When you reach the side, cut through the side hem.
4. Repeat with the wide hem. Now you should have one big sheet piece with no top or bottom hem.
5. Take one end, measure along the side seam to 19.5", make a similar cut horizontally into the fabric.
6. Just as you did with the hems, rip the sheet into two pieces, cutting the pieces apart at the very end.
7. You should now have one giant piece of sheet, and one piece that is 19.5" x the width of the sheet.
8. Now we are going to trim the skinny side seam off of your smaller piece. Line it up on your cutting mat and trim it off.
9. Now we're ready to cut that fat quarter. Line your strip up at the end of your cutting mat, and cut at 23".
10. Voila! Now you have a 19"x23" fat quarter. If you'd like a true fat quarter you may now trim it down to size.
Now you have a fat quarter and a partial 19" strip to work from! You can easily cut a 1/2 yard piece from this strip (as long as it's long enough)!
You could use this method to cut any width you'd like. You could tear a 46" strip to cut yardage pieces from, just keep in mind you're limited by the width of your sheet.
