DivaDee

Do you have to cut the WOF into strips first? How wide do you have to cut them? How many layers of quilting cotton can go thru it at a time?

ClairVoyantQuilter

The strip die cuts it into strips . . .all you have to do is lay your fabric over the die. The AccuQuilt GO! die cuts six layers of quilting cotton, the Studio dies cut ten layers of quilting cotton.

I bought a Studio in July and enjoy it so much, I recently added the GO! Baby to take with me to classes and retreats.

dellareya

Janecat have you looked at the Hunter's Star Accuquilt die? I got it when it was on sale last month. I could not believe how easily it went together. It truly was like magic. It only took me a few minutes to have the block put together. I'm now in love with the Hunter's star.

cathyvv

A few weeks ago, I could not sleep, no matter which of my relaxing techniques I tried. In fact, I tried them all!

Usually, when all else fails, I piece for about a 1/2 hour and that does the trick. However, I was between projects!!! What's a quilter to do?

I cut 3" strips using my rotary cutter,

Well, some of them are 3", anyway.

Just got a used accuquilt studio, but I don't think that would have solved my late night exhausted cutting problem. It might have made the results worse!

but I do look forward to using the accuquilt because cutting with the rotary cutter is becoming more and more difficult.

Annaquilts

Score! Congratulations and enjoy your new machine.

Onebyone

My Go is about 10 years old. It froze up, wouldn't turn. DH took it apart and replaced a busted bearing, went ahead and replaced the other three bearings too. Works better then new now. Cranks like butter. The bearings were about $4 each. All the working parts are metal, very well made machine. DH was impressed. My strip dies are about 10 years old too, still cut like new. I had to re glue two dies that came out of the frame, but that wasn't a problem.

juliea9967

I have had a GO for about 5 years or so. I had the regular one until I bought the GO Big (electric) about 1 year ago. I have 5 or 6 of the strip cutters. I probably have 25 other dies. I use the strip cutters the most. I use them for binding, borders, squares and diamonds. I love my strip cutters and my GO Big. I have never regretted the money I have spent on them.

juliea9967

I love my Hunter's Star die, too. I could not believe how easy it went together either. It is awesome!

Prism99

When I first started out with the Go!, I thought I had to pre-cut all the fabric. This was time-consuming. I haven't tried strips lately, but eventually I realized that it is not necessary to pre-cut the fabric because any excess can hang over the side of the die and just roll harmlessly through to the other side. You would not want to cut WOF anyway (which may be what I did, and may be the reason I got the creases in my strips). Fabric stretches a little as it goes under the roller, so you really want to place fabric on the strip dies so that the strips will be cut LOF. Hopefully someone else will post about this, as I really do not want to drag my Go! out of the closet to test my theories.

The strip dies cut off only the bottom of the fabric. When placing fabric on the die, you place the fold at the top of the die. If you think about it, the reason for this is obvious; you get a strip twice as long if there is a fold at one end.

I'm sure this explanation is clear as mud. Perhaps there is a Youtube video that demonstrates cutting strips without pre-cutting fabric. Will have to go look......

JoanneS

[QUOTE=Prism99;7325872]
When cutting strips with the Go!, I find that I have to stop once or twice while rolling the die through -- to lift up the mat and straighten the fabric. If I don't do that, I get ripples "ironed" into the strips and/or little jagged cuts here and there in the strips. This is caused by the fabric stretching as it is rolled through the machine. I get this even with fabric that is rolled through on the lengthwise grain (which has less stretch than the crosswise grain). Maybe it's user error.

Go info suggests putting a sheet of paper btw the fabric and rollers to prevent this problem. It works for me. The main thing to remember when cutting strips is to fold the fabric very carefully, so it is absolutely straight on the ends, or you will get the dreaded angles instead of nice straight strips.