Originally Posted by salmonsweet
I've been doing more cutting, and am really grateful for everybody's advice. It was great to know I have options! In the mid-term I may decide to buy a cutter I can use with either hand. For now I'm happy to continue to contort... Figuring that if an experienced quilter and cutter (mimisharon) is doing it, it can't be all wrong! :-)
In case it helps any other contortionists out there, I noticed one tiny thing that helped me. Wihtout thinking about it, I was laying my strips along the horizontal lines of my cutting mat. Tempting, those lines! Now I orient the strip more along the diagonal, like in the pic below; and it means I twist a bit less when cutting the line along the left (starting at the selvedge in the picture):
(And yes, that's another fabric I'm cutting there...)
No contortions needed if you use a ruler with a 60 degree line on it. You just line up the lines with the cut edge and cut with the ruler on the left each cut (if you're right handed or on the right if you're left handed).
You could also do the trick of placing another ruler up to the left edge of your triangle ruler, slowly remove the triangle and then have the ruler's right edge to cut the other side of your triangle. This is a bit more moving of rulers around but maybe more accurate in the end, since there's less chance of moving the ruler when cutting, since you won't be twisting your body and arms around.