What kind of ruler are you using to cut? Are you using the clear quilting rulers - you lay them on top of your fabric?

Many thanks for all your suppoprt folks, the ruler is a 'Sew Easy, Quilt & Sew !!! friend sent it to me, I dont have a quilt shop here and not even a decent sewing shop at all, I am putting the right pressure on, the cutter is new it must just be me ' cack handed'!! as you all say.. have to just keep practising.. or buy/ make some templates I do have squares, but no trangle ones, to match and is it a case of just drawing the line corner to corner to get matching traingles to my squares...

You must all think I am really DIM !!! :lol:

There are times I can't find the "on" switch, so you are not alone in feeling "dim" at times.

I can understand your frustration -

Good grief, NO! I can't tell you how often I have sat with the easiest pattern and couldn't figure out something only to have a friend at work show me and me then hitting my forehead in a Homer Simpson Duh! moment.

THIS IS PRICELESS!! :lol:

Everything is simple when someone else shows you! That is why we have teachers and instructors. Why should we have to re-invent the wheel! I want all the short cuts I can get! I don't have the time to learn everything the hard way! :?

I can't tell you the time I have wasted trying to figure out somehting that was SEW easy when someone showed me what to do! I can be pretty thick about some things when I THINK I know what to do and I am coming at it from the wrong way! Doh! :? :lol: :?:

YOU ARE NOT DIM! As everyone else has said, a new technique takes practice to master and soon you'll be zipping through the cutout part of quilting like the pro you are or soon will become.

As for the jagged edges of your cut, do you have something UNDER your cutting mat? I USE to store my 6" x 24" ruler UNDER and at the edge of my cutting mat and kept having all these wonky "hiccups" on my cut edge. Took the ruler out from under the mat and sure enough, got a great smooth, straight cut. The 6x24 mat was just thick enough that it made an unever surface for cutting. So, check to see if you have something stored under your cutting mat and if so, remove it.

Around here we can go to our local glass store (windows store) and they will cut ruler templates for us out of heavy hard plastic like is used for the commercial rulers only a bit thicker. They sand the edges and make a pretty decent measuring tool, you just don't get all the measurement lines. If you don't have quilt stores near by this might be something you can do. Several of my quilty friends have gotten ruler templates made for JUST SLIGHTLY LESS than the cost of a commercial ruler template. These work great I'm told.

Good luck!

Ellie,

I found that it helps stabilize your ruler to put some little dots of sandpaper on them. They are sold in most sewing shops. There is also a clear film that does the same thing, but I've never used it. I'm left handed, but I've learned that sometimes it's easier for me to hold the cutter in my right hand. Experiment with holding the cutter at different angles. I find that holding it with the handle up at about a 60-75 degree angle works best for me, so I'm actually pushing DOWN as well as forward, but that is a personal preference. Like the others said, practice on paper. And be patient with yourself. If you get frustrated, put the cutter down and take a break. Remember, there is a learning curve for EVERYTHING. You'll get it! And if there aren't any local quilt shops, if there are any kind of sewing or fabric shops around, they may be able to help you.

Or I suppose you could convince your DH that you ABSOLUTELY HAD TO take a little two or three day excursion to the nearest big city that has a quilt shop. I'm sure you could convince him that the price of a night or two in a hotel room was worth it! :mrgreen:

thank you all for these comments and encouragement, decided i may get another RC?, as told some better than others, mat and ruler are flat.. tried again each day but no better at it!! never mind, as you say time will gain experiences!!

Use templates for now..

just cut 40 green and 40 floral triangles out, keep it simple :lol:

people did (and still do) make fantastic quilts cutting the fabric with scissors

no law against using them