Originally Posted by SHayes
First of all is there a difference in the two? My friend wants to get one of these cutters just to cut strips; she really doesnt want the numerous different dies. Does anyone have a cutter similar to this and do you like it? Is the crank hard to turn? I appreciate any information from the quilt board members on any of the cutters. Thanks! Sherry
If she just wants to cut strips, I have to ask if she has tried a June Tailor short cut or quarter cut. These work very well for most people and are a *lot* less expensive (and take up less space) than an Accuquilt Go!
The Go! is the portable home die cutter; the Studio version is much more expensive, not portable, and takes up quite a bit of dedicated space. It is really meant for fabric shops (so they can cut yardage to make up kits) and serious quilters.
I have the Go! and like it for cutting strips, but if I just wanted strips I would have stayed with my June Tailor cutting mat. For the Go!, I still have to rough-cut the widths to run through the cutter and it's still important to line up the fold accurately. My cutter was fairly stiff to operate at first but has gotten easier with use. For strips, I run only a doubled layer of fabric through at one time. I stop one-third of the way to adjust the fabric (stretches when cut crosswise, which is the easiest way to rough-cut the faric) and stop again two-thirds of the way through to adjust the fabric again; otherwise the fabric stretches so much that wrinkles get pressed into the strips. One pass through the cutter makes several strips; how many depends on the width of the strips being cut.
HTH!