I am cutting my first "traditional" quilt top for my 2 yr. old's bed. It's just a 9patch. The first fabric took forever to cut. Cutting strips from the yardage then marking then cutting again. Then suddenly I realized I could get more accurate, straight cuts if I used the marks on the mat as a guide (DUH!) I started by cutting a 15"x15" square from my 15" square ruler. Then I lined it up with the markings and used my 18" ruler and the markings on the mat to cut 31/2" strips and then cut those into 31/2 inch squares (cutting multiple strips at once I might ad). I did this for the second fabric. It took 1/4 of the time that it took to cut the first fabric. It was like something just clicked and I will never cut fabric the same again. I didn't mark it or anything. Don't ya just love it when those things happen?

One word of advice in using the marks on your cutting mat.
check to make sure they are accurate and also be careful and always line up on the same side of the mark. Some mats have wider lines and can throw off your accuracy.
I use them when I am not too concerned about a thread or two off. Same is true of using marks on rulers - all are not the same so consistency is important. I took a class from a well known teacher who teaches accuracy and she told us to aways cut on the outside of the lines and that gave a just a bit more and compensated for the scant quarter inch in piecing. It works

Not sure what you are making, but maybe strip piecing would be faster. You sew 3 1/2" strips together - or whatever size, and then cut them. It depends on your pattern, but for 4 patches it's the bomb.
Judi

Thanks for this advice. I was wondering about this but didn't like to ask.

We buy what we want to use for specific projects.. Learning to adapt other features is always a plus. Now that I said this. I will follow my own suggestions.lol

Just be sure that you use the same ruler to cut every fabric in the quilt I used twodifferent ones once and couldnt figure out why my pieces didnt work right that was the problem

It's an Omnigrip ruler and I was lining up the lines directly on top of the lines on the mat. I thought about doing the strip piecing, but maybe I will on another project. I do plan on using a scant 1/4 inch seam. I have kind of taught myself everything I know about quilting in the last 4 months. I don't know anyone who quilts and have never taken any classes, so I'm just kind of winging it. I have don T shirt quilt tops, but nothing traditional until now. It's more of a learning experience :)

This is the place to come for answers I am self taught also Between this board and a small group of excellent local quilters and I mean small we average about five quilters a week I have leraned everything I know just keep asking questions and listening to what everyone else has already learned and you will be a very excellent quilterin no time at all

thanks for the advice. I will definitely do that next time. I already cut everything. I've sewn a few blocks and rows and overall it looks pretty good, although there were some issues with pieces not being the EXACT right size. It's just for my daughter's toddler bed so I am not too worried.

:D I have learned a lot from this board!