butterflywing

one thing about using metal is that it can hurt your rotary blade. if you use it to draw a line, it can slip and slide.

the other thing is that if it is narrow in width and thin in mm's it can warp, so be careful. maybe you should check that against a straight edge first.

i just treated myself to a 36" ruler for rotary cutting and i haven't used it yet, but i just got tired of looking for makeshift fixes. it will pay for itself in headaches.

i got it at joann's 40% coupon 'sale'.

there are no easy answers. just challenges.

Mousie

wow, thanks, butterflywing, these are things I hadn't thought of. Using the metal i was going to have to lay it out and drag out my 'wallboards'. We were going to redo bathroom and bought some wallboard and when we decided to make space a closet, I snagged it for basting etc. have sawhorses, but it's a bit of a bother just to cut borders.
I didn't know rulers came in 36" lengths. I better check that 48" metal/carpenters ruler I have for accuracy. It will still come in handy for measuring.
I have to be careful about when I start to make a cut, not to get my rotary blade on top of clear ruler at the corner of it. Hard to see, but my sandpaper dots for slippage is a visual barrier too.
That clear...can't remember name...but a while back, put this stuff on one side of rulers, it's clear, for slippage. Didn't work for me.

Andie

when i cut norders I measure the quilt top bottom in thru the middle take the average and cut across the fabric ($$inches) not the lenghtwise. join on the angle to get the right width or lenght I need , find the middle of the strip put tp the middle of the quilt side and pin then pin the ends and makte the rest fit to the average measurement. Make the two sides the same also top and bottom I hope this helps and you can understand . my directions . also check Fon and porters site they have great directions for doing this Good Luck Happy Quilting Andie

Kara

I cut mine on the straight of grain.
I carefully fold the fabric aligning one selvage edge.
Fold it into thirds, fourths, whatever, to get it to fit under the 24" ruler.
Cut away.

Good luck with your borders.

butterflywing

i wish that worked for me. it just doesn't. i think i have a very heavy hand. when i handle crossgrain in long strips i always end up stretching it against the quilt and then again against the binding. i end up with wiggles in the edge of the border. now i cut lengths of border first. usually too much, but that's ok. than i cut my pieces from the rest... whatever gets left behind is stash.

Mousie

well, butterfly wing, that is basically what I do, is cut down length, parallel to selvedge edge. I cut longer too, so I have enough when it comes time, and no short surprises :shock:
i read that ppl cut borders exact lengths etc. ahead of time, and we have to 'square' quilt up at some point. I am not brave enough, or, knowing myself, dumb enough, to cut exactly that far ahead.
For me, knowing that my stuff probably isn't going to be just so, at least for now, until i get better at this, it would be dumb.
It's reccommended that if you piece your backings, that you use at least a half inch seam for strength. Guess we all use quarter inch seams on front, bc pioneer women had to make the most of what they had. I think I should give myself more leeway for a bit. I don't know. I'll see how this quilt I've just about got ready to sew goes. Just waiting for new surge protector to come. :D

pittsburgpam

After tearing the strips, ironing and very lightly starching, I got them sewn on last night. They are very nice strips, nice and straight, and it only took a few moments to tear each one. What a time and aggravation saver. I realized one advantage that if the pattern is printed well, tearing it makes the edges follow the repeat at the same point all along the length. That could really come in handy, especially if you are matching pattern on a mitered corner.

I think I would use this for piecing backing too. That's also a mental block of mine, worrying about cutting them straight.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/17766.page

Quiltgranny

Hi,

So, it IS possible to get past the fear of ripping? Great, I'll give it a try; have a long border project coming up. Thanks for all the great suggestions here.

One I'd like to pass along is another reason borders might wave is due to the way they're machine quilted. It's important to keep the density of your quilting similar over all the quilt. For example, if the body of your quilt is densely quilted, but your borders are only lighted quilted, they will likely wave. Ask me how I know! LOL Wish I could remember where I've read this, but it does seem to be true. If anyone knows differently, please advise. Thanks so much.

Happy quilting,

dlf0122quilting

I used to get wavy cuts and it was because I was not "walking" my fingers up the ruler as I cut my strips. If you only hold your ruler in one spot for the entire cut, the ruler has a tendency to shift just slightly and there will be a small wavy area where you were holding the ruler. I learned this from an instructor and I have never had that problem since. I also was instructed that you can cut WOF for sashing strips but borders should be cut LOF to prevent wavy borders. Sometimes I try it LOF if I have bought enough fabric but I do not find much difference as long as I have been careful in walking my fingers up the ruler as I cut. For the newby's, walking is like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" walking by always moving your thumb up to meet your fingers, then move your fingers forward. Another tip is to always hold your pinky finger off the edge of the ruler against the side of the ruler to steady it on the fabric. It is probably just as important that you put little dots of sand paper or Invisigrip or something like these products on the bottom of your ruler so it adheres to the fabric. These little tips saved me so much time and ruined fabric because my ruler was always sliding on the fabric when I would cut. I hope some of these tips will help you. I do not use a metal ruler only because I am fortunate enough to have the Omnigrid (and others) rulers so I do not know if these tips will help you when using the metal rulers but you might try some of them. Good luck.

Donna - Batiks

Mine used to wave too until I realized the most important thing when folding to cut....make sure the fold is straight! That is what gets rid of the wave. If your fold at the bottom is straight it will cut straight. You might even have to cut both sides of the fabric to straighten it....but the fold is the most important in being striaght.
Good luck.