I'm confused. If you have the ruler on the main body of your fabric how do you measure? I use the ruler to measure and cut which means that the part that I'm measuring and cutting it under the ruler and the main body of the material is off to my right. I'm right handed. The only time that the main body of the material is under the ruler is when I'm squaring the end so I have a straight line from which to measure from. I never use the lines on the mat to measure as I don't feel it is accurate enough. I hold the ruler with my left hand and cut with my right along the right side of the ruler.