Accuquilt vs.Scan N' Cut vs Splice vs Sissix Vs Cricut???
 

I am wanting to start doing some art quilts, using my versions of landscape photos. This will be done with fusibles, etc. I also want to be able to do some applique--I'm not huge on this and prefer needle turned look to raw edge, but would love to some day do a Baltimore Album or something similar. So my question is--what cutting system would allow me to use standard applique shapes, but also maybe use for the more free form shapes in an art quilt--that actually works!

I've read all the threads on any of these machines and no one has said anything about the art quilts so wonder if there is something out there that would help with this too. Thanks!

I've got both the accuquilt go and the scan and cut, and the scan and cut is what you're after for what you want to do. It's the only option for cutting your own design shapes, and its easy to add a turn under seam for needleturn.

All of the fabric cutting systems use pre-made dies except for the Scan-n-Cut. You can design your own appliques and scale them to whatever size you want.

I agree - for what you want to do, the Scan N Cut is what you need. I have it and LOVE it!

The silhouette cutting machine will do fabric and can cut your own shapes

I found that your own designs that you scan in cannot be resized. The size you scan is the size it cuts. I had to resize on my printer first then scanned in into my scan n cut. The built in designs can be changed to any size.

The Silhouette does resize. You are doing the work on the computer anyway and sending design only to the machine.
I have my own choice of scanner. I can get a real high resolution scanner that I can control, not the program. ( I don't use all in ones) If the scanner doesn't get the scan right, I can use the tools in Silhouette Studio to trace it myself.

I have the scan n cut and it does resize and cut my scanned in designs plus it can draw the seam allowance in if you want.

Brother scan n cut would be my choice, can scan any applique shape in , sizzix and accuquilt are llimited to their dies and sizes, good in their own respects for multiple cutting of quilts fast, but not necessarily great for intricate art applique like the scanncut. With the scanncut you can also cut regular quilt blocks of multiple sizes but it will be slower than with the accuquilt/sizzix however you will not be limited in size. splice you are limited to their card and would be the last choice on the spectrum. I have sizzix and scanncut and see more diversity in scanncut, but I have a small sizzix and very few dies due to cost can see it costing more than the scanncut in the long run due to how expensive the dies can be. Cricut explore you can probably do the same as the scanncut, however with the original cricut even with new deep blade and multiple settings the cuts were never clean. Don't know if the explore has better cutting power fabric wise. I have know that those with the silhouette and scanncut prefer the scanncut for fabric, and my dealer said the only thing the silhouette did better was the rhinestones which the scanncut just came out with an add on for that recently . With so many machines it really makes it a hard choice. I do suggest if you get the scanncut ignore the recommended settings and start small and work your way up in pressure because many cut through mats on recommended settings. I suggest joining the yahoo or facebook scanncut groups, prefer the facebook ones. I joined one for about 6 month before my purchase to see how everyone was liking them and what type of fabric projects they were doing before getting mine because I was either gonna get that or a serger with my bonus and finally decided on the scanncut and don't regret my decision

I have resized my scanned designs in scanncut, because I had to small of a print out from the printer so I had to fix in in the scanned image to get the right size.