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

We were told to use the oldest or cheapest scissors and steer clear of your dressmaker's scisors, rotary cutter and cutting board.

If you have a Harbor Freight near by, get some of their blades---I have had good luck with them and if you do dull a blade it isn't a big $ loss---maybe get another blade holder and use it just for that with the HF blades---I have one I use just for cutting paper

I try to remember to use a hard surface mat when cutting batting. The blade doesn't cut the mat so the batting doesn't get stuck in it. I bought Batting scissors. They are better then a rotary cutter for batting. I couldn't believe how easy it was to cut through batting even high loft with these scissors. Trimming a quilted top is like cutting through one layer of fabric. Some of my guild members thought they were just an expensive fancy item until they got to use mine and see for themselves how effortless it was to cut batting. There is even a video of them being used: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcdNxmpUboY