cutting fabric weft and warft

[posaune]

Now a question what I ask myself when I iron the shirts of my husband.
I made some shirts out of fabric with stripes. These are the warftes threads. Now I do the yoke cutting so that the yoke stripes goes horizontal and the fabric below vertical.
If I wash the shirt several times I think the warft shrinks more than the weft (or other way round) and I have to stretch the seam to get at back a clean seam. Sometimes I can't stretch the yoke seam enough. In the front it does not matter because the seam is here real short.
How do you deal with this?
lg
posaune
I wash my fabric before cutting it

[Schneiderfrei]

I generally stretch it or accept the puckering. I think it would look too unusual to cut the yoke in the same direction as the bodice.

Some cloth seems far more susceptible than others.  None of my panama weave - chambray, oxford cloth does this, some poplins do even if they are quite expensive.

G

[theresa in tucson]

Just observing how some men's shirt are put together - it depends.  I have seen some very nice plaid yokes cut on the same grain as the shirt body, have seen them cut on the bias (which in cowboy country is the norm), and if there is a dominant stripe, cut conventionally opposite the shirt body.  For a one directional patterned fabric  it would look odd not to cut the grains the same but for a plain, I would think it would not matter.  I have read of a custom shirt maker who prewashes his fabric six times to get all the possible shrinkage out of the fabric before making it up to prevent just the shrinkage you are referring to.

[peterle]

I also stretch it when ironing if possible. But usually it is not a problem in my shirts.

You could evetually cut a spilt yoke and let the stripe run along the front yoke seam as it is often seen in american shirts. The back yoke seam will be bias then and thus more stretchable.

[posaune]

Thank you for your suggestions. Yep. In the bias it is no problem. So maybe the split yoke is the solution with a dense poplin weave.
lg
posaune

[jeffrey]

I always boil my cotton shirtings, hang them to dry to damp, then finish the drying process with a hot dry 12 pound iron. It is a bit time consuming but that seems to work best for me when I want to guarantee minimal to no shrinkage.

[Gramountoto]

I noticed the same thing, like Schneiderfrei with differences between the fabric types.

Split yoke can be a solution but not with striped fabric if you cut the shirt for a lower shoulder.

Boiling hum. It seems to be a solution but... Doesn't this harm the fabric ? Shirtings come often with 40°C washing instructions...

[theresa in tucson]

In the home sewing world we are always advised to treat the fabric first how the garment will be treated after it is made.  With a spouse who also does laundry, with cottons, I worst case things and wash and dry on hot to prevent any surprise.  Manufacturers err on the side of caution in their instructions, else why would so many garments in RTW be labeled "dry clean" only when in reality, a gentle wash and tumble dry warm would suffice.

[posaune]

Well, this phenomen happens after several washings. So I think the shrinking is a long ongoing process. It can be stopped short maybe with Jeffrey's method. But I shy away to do this to my wonderful new fabric, I'm tenderhearted. Next I'll cut the next back neck seam 0.5 cm shorter and pull while sewing. And look what happens.
Why do you think a split yoke can't use with a lower shoulder?, Gramountoto?
lg Posaune

[peterle]

Thank you for your suggestions. Yep. In the bias it is no problem. So maybe the split yoke is the solution with a dense poplin weave.
lg
posaune

Maybe with a split yoke, the problem is just shifted to the front yoke seams...

For the basics: fabric usually shrinks more parallely to the selvedge. This is because the warp threads get stretched much more during the weaving process than the weft threads.
So when you consider to cut the seams in different length it would be better to cut the yoke seam longer and keep the back yoke seam length the same. The yoke will achieve it´s final dimensions after washing.

[Schneiderfrei]

So cool.

[Gramountoto]

Why do you think a split yoke can't use with a lower shoulder?, Gramountoto?

This is only a problem with striped fabrics. If you adapt the angle of each half yoke to the slope of each shoulder, stripes running parallel to the shoulder seam, the yoke will be asymmetrical at center back seam were both half yokes come together.
Or you can cut the half yokes with stripes running perpendicular to shoulder seams...

[Greger]

Stretch the part of the seam that shrinks. And, then sew.