Wondering if Die-Cut quilting shapes would be of interest?
 

I love old machines.
I love repairing old machines
I love putting old repaired machines back to work.

I have an "Ideal Clicker Model C" that was made in 1942

It's function in life is to stamp out shapes in materials using "dies"

The dies start out as 36" long 1" tall single edged knife blades which are bent into almost any shape and then the ends are welded shut. (Imagine a 900 pound cookie cutter) it hits with 15-20 tons of force allowing it to drive through a stack of up to 5/8" leather in a single "whump"!!

It will also cut other materials like cardboard, fabric, and even some plywood and veneers.

It will do STACKS of fabric. I have made a die shaped like a pennant flag for a buddy who runs a kids soccer program and we can cut through about 10 layers of nylon at one time. We made 500 flags in a couple hours of work. (using the "Clicker" and a serger)

The issue with these machines is that they will cut out in one hour enough leather for 2 months worth of projects and they need to keep in use to keep running smooth.

I am not looking to sell the beastie, but to find additional uses to keep it busy...

SO......

Does having quilting shapes mass produced sound like something that could be useful for Quilters?
(I am not one myself, but I have contributed to several others addictions...)

Steve

I would love to see a pic of this thing. I love die cutting and I use only the GO cutter and going to get the sizzix pretty soon to cut more layers. So I think yes it would be useful for quilters especially when trying to find a cheaper price than the precuts.
Good luck

people sell squares of all sizes on ebay, as well as strips in different widths....so am thinking as long as you can make the dies, you could make money selling fabric pre-cuts!

Ok, Here it is...

The Red arrow points to the Clicker, the Green arrow points to a couple dies hanging on the wall.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]378689[/ATTACH]

yep, I can make the dies.

This main idea of this unique device is that it will let yo do the HARD stuff easy.

i.e. If you are only making squares, buy em or cut them yourself, but imagine of you wanted "Stars" or " odd triangles" or such.

Thanks for all the feedback folks!
Steve

Hi Steve, there's a site that sells steel rule dies for quilters:
http://www.accuquilt.com/studio-shop.html
They also sell a machine that will accept the dies (roller type), and make custom dies. The only difference I know of is that the accuquilt dies are fully foam covered. Most clicker/printer dies either have those small foam rectangles around the blade or no foam support at all. I've used 'used' steel rule printer dies in my roller type device.

I think what you are asking is if we quilters think cutting out fabrics in different shapes for applique would be a good and viable business idea? It could, but the problem I foresee is that most quilters might want shapes cut of specific fabrics that go with their quilt. For instance, you might cut out thousands of oak leaves, but if the fabrics you picked don't go with my quilt, then I wouldn't buy them.

Having said that, there IS a market of sorts out there for precut shapes. John Flynn has laser-cut quilt kits for sale, they feature pre-cut fabrics and all you have to do is sew it up. As long as you like the fabrics Flynn has picked out, you're good to go.
http://flynnquilt.danemcoweb.com/sho.../pre-cut-kits/

Keepsake Quilting sells groups of pre-cut shapes, including hearts, teddy bears, holiday shapes, etc.
http://www.keepsakequilting.com/prod....L1/Shapes.htm

If you are looking to sell the pre-cut fabric shapes, my experience was that there was no interest, using their fabric or my own. Inquired with my quilting group, and there were no takers, except for the Winding Ways pattern. I have hundreds of dies, so quite the selection.

I'll love to order stacks of pre cut batting squares !!!!!

I love this picture of your shop. I'm going to give this some thought. I liked Bella's answer about batting. How big and how small, or complicated, can you go? What would a set-up charge entail?

I pretty much agree with PaperPrincess - this was *almost* my answer, except then I remembered the Flynn laser-cut kits and Keepsake's shapes, so someone out there somewhere is buying. However, whether they're buying enough to justify the cost is another question.

Another direction to go if you're still wanting to pursue this is the scrapbooking market.

card stock hexagons diamonds etc for english paper piecing

Cabbage Rose Quilt Shop in Fort Worth, Tx has a die cut machine of their own. They are making fused die cuts for their block of the month program. You need to visit with them. The fused applique shapes are new to the market made first by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. Get input from them. They seem to be the "new" thing.

Very Interested read! Thanks for all the coments!

Do you have a lot of assorted dies? Do you make dies that you don't have?
How can we get some cut by you?

I would love to have my quilt patterns pre-cut but I could not afford it.

Ages ago, before the invention of the rotary cutter, Keepsake Quilting sold kits that were all pre-cut. All of their kits were like that - at least, that's how I remember it. :-)

Wow! thanks for all of the great feedback.

I will say I had no delusions of this being a good "money making scheme" mostly I just like making things and helping.

to Paperprincess: those are pretty cool. definitely made for the home market (which might well be all that is needed) but they are about halfway between a kitchen cookie cutter and the die rule stock this uses.

The capacity of the machine is 5/8" thickness (single or stacked) and can cut shapes up to 18"x12" with a single "hit" and larger dies by swinging it over one half doing a hit and then moving the head to cover the other half and doing a second hit. This particular unit began it's life working in a automobile upholstery factory, then moved on to doing purses and lastly making baby moccasins. I use it to make the leather bits for gauntlets used in modern medieval combats

I have a few dies now (purse patterns, baby moccasins, pennant flag, finishing up glove patterns now) and yes we make our own dies. I buy the 30" lengths of "blades" and bend them to the shape needed and then weld the ends closed.

I will try to do a quick video of the beastie in action this weekend.

thanks again for all of the feedback,
Steve

Thanks for the shop comment.
It is a one car garage and the list of machines shoehorned in it is kind of fun:

Benchmaster 10 ton punch press
4 ton Kick press
"Clicker" press
Roper 36" treadle shear
Drill press
30" brake/roll/shear
Whitney #17 punch
Pneumatic hammer
Beverly Shears (bench mounted metal shear 14ga capacity)
Two buffers
Oxyacetylene torch
Anvil
Forming Stakes and stake plate
120 lb Eucalyptus Stump for forming into.
Triple burner propane forge
Micro "smelter"
spin caster for lost wax casting.
4' x 7' workbench.

as far as setup charges, unless you are looking for a "Santa faced cookie" type shape I only charge the material cost of the die rule stock. it is about $7 for a 30" "stick"

small is a good question, in theory, it could be as small as a hole punch die...

How domyounuse precut batting? You got me curious

Rag quilts.

I use batting squares for quilt as you go and rag quilts. I don't like cutting batting squares. It makes a mess on the cutting board.

So, what size of squares would you typically want, and how many? Any particular batting (poly/cotton/etc)?