Cutting with a short ruler
 

I need some helpful hints from the experts. We have finally collected enough half-yard cuts of novelty fabrics to make I-spy quilts. I am folding the fabrics in half as they come off the bolt, then in half again matching the selvedge edges to the first fold, and I am using an 8.5 by 12.5 ruler to cut 5" strips, then 5" squares. When I make the first fold, I put the selvedge edges together and slide them left and right until the fabric hangs straight, then do the same for the second fold. When I cut my strips, 80% of them come out perfectly straight, but the others have a bend, usually in the center. Some of them are really bad.

It's not such a horrible problem right now, because I have enough length to correct for the bend and still get 8 squares from each strip. But, I wish I knew what I'm doing wrong because next time I might not have that luxury. I really prefer cutting this way because it's so much easier on my wrist, and there is a lot less chance to move the ruler while making the cut.

Does anyone have any suggestions for cutting this way to help me avoid the bends?

Thanks,

Darren

Bends are caused by not having your ruler positioned ***exactly*** 90 degrees from each fold. Since you are double folding, you have to make sure that the ruler is hitting *both* folds at 90 degrees.

Basically, before cutting, you need to measure from one fold to the other fold all across the fabric, making sure that the distance between the two folds remains the same. If it does, and if you get your ruler lined up at 90 degrees from one fold, it will also be lined up at 90 degrees from the other fold.

Incidentally, holding the selvedge edges together and sliding them until the fabric hangs straight has nothing to do with whether or not you get bends in your cuts. It's a nice thing to do to make sure that your fabric lies flat on the table, and may help slightly with keeping the cuts on-grain. That's it.

If you want to test out the 90-degree angle thing, take a few sheets of paper. Fold them (with edges matching or any which way). Be careful to position your ruler on the fold for the 90-degree angle. (This simply means that the cross lines on your ruler match up perfectly with the fold.) Cut. Now do another one with the ruler just slightly tilted off that 90-degree angle. When you unfold the two pieces, the 90-degree cut will not have a bend; the other will. The farther away your ruler is from 90-degrees to the fold, the bigger the bend will be at the fold.

You can double-fold some paper and test again. With one sheet, make sure that the folds are equi-distant from each other; with the other sheet, make sure the folds measure closer at one side and farther away from each other on the other. Cut both with the ruler positioned at 90 degrees from one fold. You will see how having the folds equidistant from each other are the key to not having bends in the cut strips.

Prism99 is exactly right....I assume you are using a cutting mat - the other way to look at it is that both folded edges (the center fold that is lying against the selvage, and the 'second" fold you mention above) are perfectly parallel. If not, you can get a heck of a V in the middle of each piece. Been there, done that, before i learned to make SURE the piece was perfectly "squared up" before cutting.

If you are using novelty fabrics for an I Spy quilt - you might consider "fussy cutting" your fabric for this application.

Fussy cutting is selecting a certain area of the print and cutting each square individually so that if, for example, your print is of cows - you have a whole cow in each square - instead of the back end in one square and the front end in another.

If you choose to consider this way of cutting pieces for an I Spy quilt - I have found that cutting a square of template plastic the "unfinished" size - in your case 5 inches - and then putting 1/4 inch tape on the edges to "frame" what will be showing - has worked out fairly well. Or you could just draw the stitching lines on the template to "frame" what will show.

But back to your original question - the folded piece has to be "even" - and the cuts exactly perpendicular to the edge. I have found that no matter how careful I am, I have to "adjust" every so often to get my perpendicular "On" again. I also check every two or three cuts to make sure that the pieces are staying straight.

I also would have washed my fabrics before cutting them. But that's my choice.

Wesing, I'm so glad you asked your question, because I often have the same problem. I was taught to cut this same way and still ,even though I thought I was being very careful, I would still get bends.
Prism99, thank you so much for the wonderful explanation on how to cut fabric correctly. I so appreciate it. Gina

I'm guessing you are prewashing your fabrics (as would I). My method is to hang the fabric with selvedge edges together. You will see the puckers. I then lay the fabric flat on the table and smooth the fabric from the folded edge to the selvedge edge until there are no puckers. I then ignore where the selvedge edge or the cut edge falls. I trim one side of the cut edge so both layers are even. In your case, since you are double folding, I would follow the same smoothing process with the second fold (after pressing that first folded crease with LOTS of starch) and before trimming the one edge. Then use that cut edge to start my measurements.

What I do is use my larger ruler 6"x24" to get a straight first cut lining up off of the fold. After that cut, I then fold it again lining up that first cut and use my smaller ruler.

I get the bend in some strips even when using the Shape Cut ruler. I'm not one to want to engineer my fabric for perfection position before cutting so I was very frustrated with the whole process. I use pre cuts and bought a Go to cut the other shapes.

Brilliant!!!

This happens when your Shape Cut is placed on the fabric in such a way that the fabric fold does not line up perfectly with a crosswise line in the Shape Cut. It can also happen if the Shape Cut slips a little when you make a cut. I solved the slipping problem by placing some grid strips underneath (sorry, can't recall the brand name right now; they are about 1/8" thick and come in very sticky strips).

OMGosh!! Thank you a million times!! I thought it was my cutting, but it's actaully my folding that has been messed up. Ever so slightly, but enough to make me crazy and re-cut in some instances!!

This the way I cut as well. But I also square up after 2-3 cut strips.
Use one of the lengthwise lines on the horizontal ruler to line up on the edge of the fold.

Jan in VA

Prism99 -

Thank you so much for your quick, detailed answer. I'm a bit red-faced now that I didn't think of it. I'm a math nerd, an ACCOUNTANT for crying out loud, and that solution never crossed my mind. But as soon as I started reading your post, I knew you were exactly right. I cut a few HYs up when I got home from work, and every strip was perfect!

To everyone else who responded, thank you also. i love that everyone is so willing to share their expertise with people they don't even "know" on this board.

I now have about 80 fabrics cut, so I have about 50 to go. Then we can assemble them into kits and start making the many baby quilts that we are behind on!

Darren

One more thought on this. I, and the other people who have been fighting the bends, would have been able to make straight strips from my method if the selvedges were perfectly straight and parallel to one another. Apparently that is not the case on a lot of fabrics. That's a good thing to know, so I don't rely on that faulty assumption for any other situations I might find myself in.

Thanks again!

When I was first learning to rotary cut, I noticed that every third or fourth strip I cut, tended to have 'elbows' so now I just check for the edge to be straight after each second cut. Much more accurate for me. Try it?

I have been watched many times by cutting pros (who folded the fabric for me) and even they are surprised that I get a V in some of my strips when cutting. I bought the Alto Quilt 2 and still got the V. I love my die cut machine!