The table is probably a problem. I sew with a guild that sews at a Rec building and they provide the tables. When we first started getting together and sewing there they had the ancient wood tables. They started replacing them with the plastic tables and everybody started having problems with their cuts. We bought an actual cutting table and everybody's happy with it.

One thing I recently learned - make sure you hold your rotary cutter straight up, don't angle it toward the ruler or away from the ruler or your size will be slightly off.

All of these are great tips....a sturdy table at the right height was a big one for me.

But what seemed to help me the most was to use the blank side of my cutting mat. That way, you are truly using a ruler to measure your fabric...not trying to line up sets of lines on the ruler with sets of lines on the mat. This method really has helped me become an accurate cutter. To square up the end of a folded piece of fabric, use a (preferably large) square rule butted up to your long cutting ruler. And squaring up the cut edge of the fabric is a big one for me, especially when cutting strips.

Of course, nothing helps like practice and lots of it!

I hear plastic tables are not the best because they don't remain as flat

Hi Hockeyrabbit,

Analyse how you are holding the rotary cutter. Are you wrapping your thumb and 4 fingers around the handle? Or do you use your index finger as a pointer and grip the handle with 3 fingers and thumb? Using your index finger as a pointer will give you more control. This motion makes the blade an extension of your finger/hand. It also eliminates side to side wrist action. Hope this helps. :-)

I starch my fabric too. Makes a big difference

We had trouble with accurate cutting til we invested in the Altos cutting system "the QuiltCut2. It wasn't cheap but neither was the fabric we wasted. My DH is willing to do most of my strip cutting since we purchased it. These are the same people who make the cutting systems picture framers use to cut mats for pictures, so you know they have to be accurate. Saw it demonstrated at a quilt show.

These are all great comments. I think I'll try the starch method. I have found the lighter weight fabrics cause me some problems. Occassionally I'll find I'm not holding the cutter with a pointing finger too. The pointing finger helps stablize the hand.

One additional comment: If you are folding your fabric and cutting it, make sure both sides are laying parallel to one another other. I find some fabrics want to drift from being wrapped wrong on the bolt.

I have this and it greatly helped me. But, I also have some physical problems to deal with. Otherwise, learn how to hold the ruler steady and have something to keep it from slipping: invisigrip, sandpaper dots, or TrueCuts TruGrips, or something similar.

When cutting don't start at the end of the ruler, but just inside the end, cut backwards to the end then go forward. This prevents nicking the corner with your rotary blade. There is a video on YouTube somewhere about this I am sure.

Yes, I do Best Press or starch my fabric before cutting. Not always, but definitely on the better projects.

I have a kitchen cart on wheels that I use for a cutting center. It is just the right height for me and I can roll it out of the way when company comes.

I have a rotary cutter that works for me. Though many friends prefer the Martelli, I can't use it because the index fingers joints are being destroyed too fast as it is and pressure on them is very painful. I had to learn how to hold the cutter I use to the best advantage for me.

Sometimes I purposefully over cut - make the piece a tad bigger so I can then square it up or trim it to size when I need to.

I don't cut well in the company of others! I am too distractable, so I get all cutting directions before going to any classes or such.

Do an inventory of what you are doing, the review it to see where you can improve. If need be get a friend involved and both of you help each other.

ali

I was told by a teacher not to use a ruler over 12 if you can help it because you start angling the more you move the rotary cutter from your body. It seems to work for me. It was a control issue for me