citruscountyquilter

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.

crafty pat

This is how I cut. If your blocks are going together well you must be cutting right for you.

MartiMorga

my ruler is on the strip to be cut, that way I can get an accurate cut (or so I hope). But I would think as long as it works, it works and no blood, its a winner, right?

ThreadHead

I have my material to the right and the ruler on the left.

ILoveToQuilt

Right, right? Right!

FroggyinTexas

I had to think a good little while to decide how I cut and finally decided it depends on where I'm cutting,j i.e., dining room table, kitchen counter, sewing room. If what you are doing is working for you, it's right for you. froggyintexas

Rodney

If you're getting the results you want, you're doing it right.

I'm very new to quilting ( I started about 6 months ago) and I think that before I started I had never seen acrylic rulers, rotary cutters or cutting mats. Those things are right up there with the wheel and sliced bread as far as good ideas go. I started my first quilt with scissors. I would mark my line, iron a crease for a cutting line and try to get a straight cut with scissors. What a world of difference using modern tools makes. My accuracy (and productivity) has improved dramatically. It just adds to my respect for the ladies who made quilts all by hand with not much more than scissors, a needle and some thread.

I put my first quilt I started aside for a few months to work on other projects and just started on it again today. I started it with scissors and it really shows that I was in way over my head with that one. As I was going thru re-pressing the blocks so I could continue working on it I was amazed at the difference between what I thought was acceptable then and what is acceptable to me now. I'm going to finish it but I've got a lot of cleaning up to do and it will never be perfect or even reasonably close. I'm really hoping it shrinks and puckers a lot to help hide some of the flaws.

I'm right-handed and learned thru trial and lots of errors to cut like most here. I use the measuring grid on the ruler, I haven't tried to use the lines on the mat at all. I have the bulk of my fabric on the right and the piece I'm cutting under the ruler. I've found it's faster and more accurate for me that way. I'm also learning that there's no such thing as too large of a cutting mat.

Rodney

gale

I cut on the right side of the ruler. Whether the ruler is on the good part or the waste part just depends. I do it both ways.

youngduncan

After twenty years of cutting, it would seem that your method works for you. I don't think there is a need to change your cutting habits as long as you are accurate and careful.

Jeanne S

I cut with the main body of the fabric to the left and my strip to the right--my strip is not under the ruler. But several months ago I noticed on many videos that after squaring up the fabric most instructors flipped their fabric and cut with the measured strip under their ruler. I posted a similar question on this board and got the same responses as you did--both methods are used and whatever works for you is OK. Just use your method consistently for the cutting of all the pieces of a quilt--don't change in the middle of a project!