Nammie to 7

In the not too distant future someone will be asking -- how did you manage before before Accu-quilt? We just work with the best tools we have available. I think sometimes we lose a little bit of skill with each new invention!

GailG

My first pieced quilt was cut with scissors. After that I purchased a mat, rotary cutter, and ruler. This was in 1995.

ThreadHead

When I worked in the fabric department in 1956 we used a meter for measuring yardage, you put in a corner and pull it through to the amount the customer wanted, ie 2 yards, and push the arm down and it would cut about an inch, them take it out of the meter and tear it. We used scissors for cutting out patterns.
back in those days, we also used our arms as measuring tools. We didn't have rulers like today, we had a wooden yard stick, and tape measure. I do remember using feed sacks for skirts for the kids. I still have a box of patterns from the 1950's which I will probably never use. lol People look at my sewing room and make remarks like (boy, you have a lot of stuff, must have cost you a fortune). I don't tell them that some of the things are 30 years old. I have serger thread that I bought in 1980. The moved my sewing room around and some of the cones were crumbling in my hand, but the thread was still strong.

Jan in VA

What gets me is that in the 1800s those quilters did it without the fancy glasses and lighting we have now! HOW???!

Onebyone

I'd give up my sewing machine before giving up my die cut machine and dies. I can always handstitch the pieces together. Rotary cutting is not as accurate as die cutting no matter how precise you try to be but rotary is much better then scissors. If I was quilting back in my great grandmother's time I'd just be making yo yos and hexie quilts. Maybe that was why so many of those were made.

AngeliaNR

I had a dream the other night in which a lady was measuring fabric with a meter. I must have seen them when I was a kid, but I'd forgotten all about them! There was an audible "kerchunk" when they notched the fabric. How many things hide in our memories until something triggers them?

quiltingcandy

When I first started quilting I used cardboard, pencils and scissors. I didn't think much about it. Even my first GFG quilt I used a plexiglass template, traced it on the fabric and then cut it. Then a friend of mine took a quilting class, found out about the rotary cutter and mat. We went to FedCo and bought the Olfa set for I believe was $15.00. We thought we had died and gone to heaven. I still have the mat and cutter - both still work well. The mat is too small now - but at the time it was perfect.

My first 6 x 18 inch ruler - well, lets just say it was a few curves that weren't there when it was new. I still have it for sentimental reasons, but no longer use it.

gale

Back then I only sewed clothes (I was in HS in 79) so I only used regular scissors. I didn't have my first rotary cutter until at least 1988 or so and I didn't have a mat. I put down cardboard and probably ended up cutting through the carpet. lol

Prism99

I still remember the first time I saw a rotary cutter demonstrated. It was mesmerizing! An absolutely brilliant idea! I think I bought it right then and there.

ckcowl

Scissors and templates, marking, and pinning was how we did it. I didn't (give in) and try out a rotary cutter until about 2004,5. I still mark and pin for precision