Batting and rotary cutters
 

Does anyone think cutting batting dulls the rotary cutter blade? I a new blade for a lap quilt and after I trimmed the layered quilt the blade wouldn't cut at all.

yep, i'm pretty sure it does. seems to anyway. so i try not to cut it with my rotary cutter if possible.
you might try taking your blade out and cleaning the cutter and blade a bit. might help.

What kind of batting did you use? Poly will dull your scissors and cutters faster than cotton will.

I was told by a teacher not to use rotarys and alsod don't cut on your good mat. The rotary cutter cuts the batting and crams it into the mat. Ruins it. I've never done it, so that is all I can tell you.

I mostly use poly batting and have cut it for a few QAYG squares. I never noticed the blade getting more dull than with cotton fabrics. I trim quilts after quilting with $2.00 scissors from Wal Mart and it does not dull them.

I cut my batting with scissors. It really messes up the mat if you use the rotary cutter.

A batting that has either all or partial poly content will dull your sissors or rotary blade faster than 100 percent cotton. As much as I love the presicion of the rotary blade... it is always a tough choice to "sacrifice" one when working with poly batting. I do have a dedicated cutter for battings.

It was cotton batting. I cut batting without fabric on the wrong side of one of my because I learned the hard way what happens when you do.

I agree -- it definitely dulls your rotary. I just experienced the same thing this past weekend when squaring up a quilt. How frustrating.

I use my mat and rotary cutter all the time and have never noticed it dulling them or ruining my mat. I have noticed that my cutter doesn't cut as well if it gets linty. It is like new after a good cleaning. My blades last for months and months, too. I can't remember when I changed my blade last--probably the first of the year, and I cut a lot.
Sue