Ripping Fabric for Patchwork Purses

Video Transcript

"For most my sewing I do I like to rip my material instead of having to sew it. If it has straight lines, the ripping gives you generally a really nice, straight line right along the fabric, the grain of the fabric. So what I'm going to do is go ahead and take my material, you could probably get away with about three-quarters of a yard, this is actually a full yard. I'm going to fold it in half and cut it, just rip it all the way down. This side will be for your lining, that's about how wide you need. Now if you're using different types of material, you're obviously going to have to rip strips out of each of them. You won't need it quite that wide, but that just gives you lots of room to decide how big you want it to be. And then for the remaining strips, just take the other material. A lot of times when I rip my strips this is exactly how I cut them, I'll cut one, I'll cut it in half and I'll keep that piece for lining, and then I'll rip the other pieces for patch working together, or for straps for my purses, or for a bias string to go through a skirt. Having it ripped in strips is just really handy. And you're going to need however many strips wide you want to go, plus the lining, plus the strap. And that's how you rip your strips!"