Originally Posted by
Barb in Louisiana
All the tips so far have been very good. A quilt teacher told me one day to never use the lines on the cutting mat as a cutting guide. Solution, I use 2 rulers butted up together if I need them to get a wider cut.
Second thing was - always place the ruler on top of the piece of fabric you are cutting so that the good part stays under the ruler while cutting. The second tip has made all the difference in the world for me. It has almost totally stopped the slippage and bad cuts. I, also, cut, then walk my fingers, then cut again if the need arises.
I am right handed. I square my fabric up with the bulk of it to my left. Remember, ruler on the good piece. Then I either go to the other side of the table or turn the fabric so that the bulk of it is to my right so that my ruler is on the good fabric and the bulk of the fabric is to my right to make piece cuts. That way any bad cuts go into the left over fabric and you just have to trim off the edge of the piece you need. FYI...it's a lot easier than it sounds.
I am confused -
Do you have the ruler on top of the fabric that will be cut off?
I am right hand dominant -
How I cut:
If I need to fold the fabric, I do that first
I have the measured amount under my ruler - and cut on the right-hand side of the ruler. The bulk/rest of the fabric is to the right of the ruler.
My current favorite rulers are the Olfa frosted ones - they have nice thin lines - I lay the ruler so that I can barely see the edge of the fabric to the left of the line of my desired dimension.
My cut pieces are actually a tiny bit larger than the designated size - maybe 1/64th of an inch.
I have been meaning to measure the width of strips cut using a June Tailor shape thing - but have not done so yet.
For my first cut - I just cut "big" and turn it around and trim it on the other side.
Sometimes the selvages shrink/pucker on washed fabrics -I clip them every few inches so the fabric is laying flat all the way to the edge.
I like to keep the selvages on as long as possible for two reasons:
1) It minimizes raveling/fraying
2) It might give me a clue as to what the fabric source/pattern is