Thread: Cutting strips

Here is what I do: I cut my fabric into one yard lengths--longer is harder to work with. I use spray starch and iron it smooth. Then fold it in half with selveges together, and hold it out in front of me with the fold hanging down toward the floor. I slide the two selveges edges back and forth, looking at the fold until the fabric hangs down smooth without a ripple at the fold. Then lay the fabric flat on my cutting board, with the selveges away from me and the fold toward me. I pick up the fold and fold it up to line up even with the selvege edges, so I will be cutting through 4 layers of fabric. Use the lines on the cutting mat to trim the left edge off, otherwise known as 'squaring up'. Then I use my 24" ruler, placing it on the left side of the fabric, the newly trimmed side, and slide the ruler over the fabric until 2 1/2" of the fabric is underneath the clear ruler, lining up both vertical and horizontal fabric edges to lines on the ruler. Use a rotary cutter to cut the fabric on the right side of the ruler.
If I don't take the time to iron the fabric and get the fold straight, I get bows in my strips---this is a common problem. A wrinkle in the fabric will also give you a weird jagged edge. Also make sure your cutting board is on a hard flat surface, if it bends when you are cutting, you will get bows too.

Originally Posted by Jeanne S

Here is what I do: I cut my fabric into one yard lengths--longer is harder to work with. I use spray starch and iron it smooth. Then fold it in half with selveges together, and hold it out in front of me with the fold hanging down toward the floor. I slide the two selveges edges back and forth, looking at the fold until the fabric hangs down smooth without a ripple at the fold. Then lay the fabric flat on my cutting board, with the selveges away from me and the fold toward me. I pick up the fold and fold it up to line up even with the selvege edges, so I will be cutting through 4 layers of fabric. Use the lines on the cutting mat to trim the left edge off, otherwise known as 'squaring up'. Then I use my 24" ruler, placing it on the left side of the fabric, the newly trimmed side, and slide the ruler over the fabric until 2 1/2" of the fabric is underneath the clear ruler, lining up both vertical and horizontal fabric edges to lines on the ruler. Use a rotary cutter to cut the fabric on the right side of the ruler.
If I don't take the time to iron the fabric and get the fold straight, I get bows in my strips---this is a common problem. A wrinkle in the fabric will also give you a weird jagged edge. Also make sure your cutting board is on a hard flat surface, if it bends when you are cutting, you will get bows too.

This is great instruction. I do one more thing when I cut strips. Before I do the full cut I make a small ending cut at the far end of the strip I am going to cut ( a release cut). As I cut the full strip this little 1" cut prevents the fabric from walking at the end of the cut. I don't know why, it just does.
peace

Good advice. One thing that really helped me cut straighter was pressing down the crease after folding the fabric for cutting the strips. Occasionally, I still get an elbow, but it happens far less now.

Also, I align the ruler so that only 2.5" wide strip I want to cut is covered by the ruler. The other 3.5" of the ruler are on the cutting board. It's much easier for me to see whether the fabric is straight when I do that.

If I try to cut more than 2 layers of fabric, the fabric seems to skew on the additional layers, so I don't do that. Other people are very successful at cutting more than 2 layers of fabric at once, so I know the problem is me!

And - always use a sharp blade to rotary cut. That makes a world of difference.

The important thing is to make sure the fold of the fabric is straight. I too use a square ruler to extend along the fold of the fabric to make sure I am cutting 90 degrees from the fold. Just try various ways and find what works best for you.

I fold it and use my 8 1/2 x 24 inch ruler. The 8 1/2" width is enough to be sure the fold of the fabric straight. Most times I use my Go though.

I do the above and after 2 or 3 cuts, I check to see if fabric is still square.