Thank you -this makes sense to me.

Good advice -and I will check out the Eleanor Burns videos you referenced.

Below is a link to the reference cutting chart for AccuQuilt dies.


http://www.accuquilt.com/shop/go-reference-chart

I cut a stip just a little bigger than the cutting lines on the die. One tip, if it doesn't already have the cut lines darkened, I took a sharpie and draw on the cutting lines so that its easier to see where your cutting lines are when placing your fabric on the die. Also, make sure you don't have the fabric cut on the bias, if laid down on the cutter the wrong way as the die is going thru the cutter it'll stretch the fabric and you'll end up with the wrong size of squares. I learned this the hard way. If you do rag quilts, I love the die for that, I would never do a rag quilt if I had to make all those slits by hand. Good luck. My daughter loves it, she doesn't make that many but they are always block quilts and after trying to cut the first quilt by hand years ago and all of her blocks were different sizes, she now only uses the Go and she also had to learn the hardway on how important laying the fabric on it the right way if very important.

I take the finnished size and add about 1/2 inch to get 1/4 inch overhang. I use strips and stack up to 6 layers. I do use a sizzix big shot pro but can use accuquilt dies on it too.

Abc123: Thanks for the link to the chart. I hadn't seen that yet.

Connie

I have this machine. I bought it because I had a hard time using a rotary cutter and thought this would be easier. The problem is it wastes fabric. If you are going to cut the fabric down to as close to the size of the die as possible you may have slippage. What I mean is the die may shift during the cutting and then you won't have a complete shape. That is why they recommend using larger pieces of fabric. I think the concept is great and if you don't mind a little wasted fabric then go for it. It can cut multiple pieces at once which is nice. As for me mine has been sitting on a shelf for a long time.

Honestly, if you want to make a single Irish chain quilt using 2.5" squares of assorted fabrics, then I highly recommend that you purchase the die for making multiples of the squares. Here is a link to it:
https://www.accuquilt.com/shop/go-sq...multiples.html

Think about it. With the die that comes with the starter kit, assuming you are cutting 4 layers of fabric, you get only 4 squares for each pass through the roller. With the multiples die, you get 36 squares with each pass. The savings in time (and fabric) is substantial. To get the same number of squares with the starter die, you have to position the fabric and mat 9 times and run it through the roller 9 times. In that 9 times, you are likely to make a mistake or two that costs you fabric. Plus, you will have wasted fabric around every cut. It is much easier to position fabric on the multiples die once, and you will have waste fabric around every 9 cuts instead of every cut. Worth every penny, in my opinion, if you are doing 2.5" squares.

As someone else mentioned, it's possible to also cut 2.5" squares with the Go! using only the 2.5" strip die. First you cut the strips, then you position the strips on the die to cut them into 2.5" squares. This is also much, much faster than using the single shape on the starter die. However, it does help to have some experience with the Go! before doing it this way. The 2.5" multiples die would be easier for a beginner.

I have had the 2 1/2 multiple square die replaced twice. Each one skipped cutting a lot. It is the joining of the blades where the skips happen. I'm not a fan of this die.

I am with Prism99 on this one. For something like an Irish Chain or a postage stamp block with 2.5 inch squares the die for multiple 2.5 inch squares is well worth the money. I also use my long strip dies to crosscut strips into squares but for a beginner I would recommend the multiple square die.