fabric cutting

i am new to sewing and one of the toughest thing is to even out 1 yard of fabric after washing, drying & ironing.  is there a secret to evening out the fabric?

thanks,
newbie

I'm not sure what you mean by evening out...do you mean squaring up?

I think thats what she means & I find to use my gridded ruler is the best help. I do have a large T square that I use sometimes. I hate it when the fabric is not printed evenly & it runs off.

Cutting fabric for the first time after washing and ironing can be tricky especially if they were not careful when cutting it at the store you purchased it from.  For me, I start with folding the fabric in half lining up the selvedge edges.  I basically hold the folded edge in one hand and the selvedges edges in the other hand.  I then move one of the selvedge ends up or down parallel to the other edge until the fabric hangs nicely without any bulges or wrinkles.  This is when you can really see how well the fabric was cut or not.  Sometimes I've had to trim off 1/8 yrd in order to make my fabric straight.  At this point, I carefully lay my fabric on my cutting mat and cut it from fold to selvedge using my rotary cutter and long ruler.  Now I know my fabric is straight and I don't have to worry about crooked corners later.
Here's a link to a youtube video which may help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_euef3T7b8

irene,
thanks for the great tip.  i find this part to be the biggest pain. 

This is the biggest pain for me too!  I especially have a hard time with a few yards of fabric.  That you-tube video said something about hanging the fabric, which I'll give a try!  Sometimes I wonder if I stress too much about it when sewing garments...

Sometimes when my fabric seems really crooked, I pull the fabric ends on the bias and stretch it to even it out, then cut the ends to make it straight.

I just read a tip that said to trim the edges (w/o the selvedge) with pinking shears before you wash the fabric to minimize all of that irritating fraying that happens.  I haven't tried this yet, but I would imagine that squaring the edges would be a little bit simpler too without all of that thread carnage that pops out of the dryer.

That is a great tip about the pinking shears. I have to try that! I am constantly amazed by what a little masuring and good cutting up front saves you by the end of a project!

You can also cut a small notch at each edge of fabric/selvage before washing. It will fray very little that way.

I cut my non-selvege edges with pinking shears too, and it helps a lot. The two places I get fabric never cuts it straight. There is one lady who will always give me a little extra because she sees that whoever cut before her didn't make it straight.