Originally Posted by feline fanatic
Originally Posted by cjomomma
I love jelly rolls if it's the right price. I would buy all 1 print to use for binding and sashing. No matter how hard I try I can't cut strips straight they always have a bend in them.
If you are consistently getting "dog legs" or bends when you cut strips, this has everything to do with how you are folding your fabric, not your cutting. You need to make sure your fabric hangs straight with no ripples or drapes when you match up selvedges. This often involves offsetting the cut ends, sometimes a lot. This is hard to do with anything much bigger than a yard and a half without a helper or loads of experience.
You can not cut strips straight off the bolt as fabric is rarely straight on the bolt, even though it looks nice and flat, you will get a dog leg every time. You may benefit from only cutting one layer at a time if you always get the bend and can not master refolding at perfect right angles.
And I would just add that once the fabric is folded correctly, you must make sure your ruler is lined up correctly. A horizontal line on the ruler must line up perfectly with the fabric fold or you will be cutting on a slight diagonal.
I used to have the same problem until I figured it out.