My second quilting project was a Christmas table runner - 3 blocks on point, pointed ends. When I finished the binding, one of the points was wonky, so I took it apart to fix it. While cutting some of the binding straight (while it was still attached on the front side), my rotary cutter jumped the ruler and I cut my finger. It was a fairly new blade and the cut was deep. My first thought was, Oh goodness, please don't let me bleed all over my table runner - I've put too much time into it. Fortunately, I didn't. That was in 1993, and I put that runner out every Christmas. Makes me smile everytime I see it.

We live and learn, don't we. Yep! been there done that!

Ouch! I always think the worst part of cutting or pocking myself is I cant sew for a while, so blood doesnt get EVERY WHERE!

HA Ha ha! Save the quilt, no matter what! Let's face it people heal, quilts do not. We are all very much alike aren't we, even though we have never really met each other?

I can't count the number of times I have cut myself with a rotery cutter. I think mine are always out for blood.

I cut the side of my finger off right along the nail (missed the nail, thank goodness) but I don't even remember what quilt I was working on at the time!

You've been initiated!!! Welcome to the club! :-D

yep, using my 8x24 ruler i did the same thing. bled for 4 hours then went to the emergency room and sat for 1 hour. they just ended up wrapping tons of gauze around my finger. nerves took months to stop being sensitive.
funny thing was, that long ruler had a plastic guard on the side I WASN'T using!!! duh.

I did the exact same thing about a month ago. Ran upstairs and grabbed a wash cloth to wrap it up in then began digging through the linen closet one handed for gauze & a bandage. Had hubby wrap me up then went right back down to that naughty cutter and finished what I was working on. It was sensitive if I bumped it but I was on a roll with that quilt! Now it's laying on hubby's pool table waiting for borders because a D9P urge overwhelmed me.

Yes, and I also didn't want to bleed on my project which happened to be white. Luckily I didn't.

Yep! Me too! I cut the side of my finger off while cutting fabric for a customer at my shop! New blade (of course) & that rotary cutter just jumped right over the ruler edge! Customer was a great friend - even took me to ER. Tried to keep a hard hold to ebb the bleeding, but let go once to ease cramps in my other hand-- & of course, blood all over her car! While I was at ER my shop partner found the chunk of finger wedged underneath the blade of the cutter. (Glad she found it & not me-yuck!)
That was 2 1/2 yrs ago & I never got the feeling back in my finger tip. Too much nerve damage Dr said.
Go figure!! the next week my shipment of ruler safety guards came in!! Put them on EVERY ruler in the shop & at home! Strongly urge their use - you just never know when that darn thing will 'jump the track'

Everyone, PLEASE be careful:)

I did not know that safety guards exist! What do they look like? I think I need several!

Ouch! I have not cut myself with a rotary cutter but I can feel your pain as I read the posts. I try very hard to remember to close my blade every time I put it down and to keep my fingers away from the edge of the ruler. I do know someone though who was coming to guild meeting and had her cutter in her purse. She reached in to grab something and sliced her 4 fingers inside around the second knuckle bringing up a bloody hand. Oh! I can still feel her pain!
Be careful!

Safety guards? Never heard of those. More info please.

Exactly what I was thinking.

Oh yes....back when I was still working, I was in a hurry trying to get some quilt pieces cut out before going to work....I let my finger slip to the edge of the ruler and neatly cut off the whole edge of the finger.....what a shock to the system that was...then an embarrassment when my patients asked what happened to my finger!! :D

Barbara, What a great memory of your Christmas table topper. (It's great now, in retrospect, of course!) When making a quilted Christmas stocking for a good friend, I ran the sewing machine needle through my finger and fingernail. Eeeeeeeee! My first thought was to keep blood off the fabric. Second thought was "did the needle break?" It didn't, but a quilter friend said I HAD to change needles. I smile to think of that incident every year when I hang up my own quilted Christmas stockings.

You all have me cringing... I am glad that it hasn't prevented you from going back and finishing up your quilts :D:D:D

I was cutting along my 24inch ruler with a very new blade in the rotary cutter. i didn't notice until later but I had sliced through all except my little fingers false nails. Good job it was them and not trhe tops of all my fingers.

I use the Gypsy Gripper. I have the small and large size. I also like Fons and Porter's Klutz glove. I keep it in my take to class/workshop tote. I had a great ruler guard I ordered online a few years ago. I loaned it to a guild member and she said she lost it and it cost too much for her to replace it. I need to learn not to loan out my good stuff. I can't remember the name of it. I remember is was made in Australia. I would like to buy another one if I could find where I bought it.

When I was at a sewing class I poked my finger with the needle and got blood on my project;not alot but enough to have it spoil the area. Anyway, a lady told me if I used my own spit on it (place the soiled part in my mouth and got it saliva wet, it would removed the blood. IT WORKED. However, this cure will only work if it is YOUR blood on the project and YOUR saliva taking it off. I hope I worded this correctly. Enjoy

Never cut myself with the rotary cutter but I have sewn my finger!
Did the same thing, stopped the machine and tried to figure how to get my finger out of the needle without bleeding on my project!(I had used every scrap of that fabric for the quilt I couldn't bleed on it!)

I always thot the 'heart' of any quilt or sewing project was a tiny spot of blood somewhere in the process.

JoAnn's carries safety guards for rulers. Fons and Porter carries a cutting glove. You wear it on the hand that holds the ruler. That said I have cut myself numerous times due to carelessness. One time I turned to talk to my DH and the blade lightly went over my knuckles. Had to wear tight bandages to stop the bleeding. Luckily I didn't hit the quilt. I'll heal, the quilt won't.

Peroxide will also work. This is what they use in the hospitals. Learned this when the nurse was helping me dress after my mastectomy. She had to take a blood sample & accidentally got a couple of drops on my new softie. She wet a cotton swab with peroxide & dabbed it on the spots & they disappeared. Wish I had know about this years ago!

I have never cut myself with a rotary cutter - too paranoid about it, I guess. Maybe because the first circular cutting device I ever used was a radial arm saw which cut through wood like a knife through butter.

I have however, stabbed myself with needles and pins many, many times, and have even bled on my wedding dress while sewing it.

I haven't cut myself with the rotary cutter and I can only pray, 'Lord, thank you for keeping me safe from my rotary blades'. I cringe when I think of being sliced by that sharp blade.

I've nicked a finger or two, and I've sewn through one also. When I started reading the post, I thought you were going to say that you cut the quilt! Somehow, that would have been much worse. And how many times have I had to stop and apply direct pressure for finger jabs with pins and needles? Peroxide works. Happy healing - and quilting!

Yep - 4 stitches!

My advice if you get blood on your quilt....immediately put full strength hydrogen peroxide onto the area. It breaks down the enzymes in blood and is the absolute best way to get blood off from fabric. As a nurse who worked in the ED for 15 yrs.....ask me how I know :) I saved countless scrubs from being ruined this way. And yes....I've already had to use the same method for getting blood spots off from quilts when the needle has bit me while hand quilting.

When I was first starting to sew using my new machine I sewed though my left pointer finger, and the needle broke off in it. It startled me and I let out a yelp loud enough to wake my daughter. She was worried about getting the needle out of my finger, I was worried about if I had another needle for my machine or not. LOL.

I tried to teach myself to quilt many years ago and wanting to do it on the cheap just in case it wasn't my thing, I bought a small rotary cutter and a plastic ruler that wasn't for quilting. Well, when I did one of my first cuts the cutter jumped over the small ruler edge and got the index finger on my left hand. It took a long time for it to heal and I can see still the "vacant" spot where it took the chunk of flesh! It was about 7 years before I bought the Omnigrid ruler and was successful in learning to quilt and about being careful with those very, very sharp rotary cutters!

I got my somh a safty shield for her rottery ruler after she sliced off a good part od the side of her finger.
Heard tale of aunt who uses to do alt's foe the white house in SF that she ran over her finger with sewing machine.
I guess I am just a total wuss as I do NOT like pain and have never sewen my finger or cut off part of it. When ever my fingers get close to the needle or the blade I think of how they can hurt me so am extra careful :-)

Those cuts can be annoying and that's why I keep all my Warm n Natural batting scraps and a roll of scotch tape handy. I'm on a blood thinner but the W n N seems to stop the bleeding right away so I can continue to quilt. whew!

Can't say as I have cut myself with the rotary, but pin pricked finger comes to mind on a doll quilt I did last year. Luckily I got the blood out and recipient never knew.

I cut the tip of my finger off once and once I bumped my scissors off the table, tried to catch them and stabbed the point deep in my hand. I guess I hit a nerve because I have never felt such a sharp pain. The next time I let them hit the floor.

I haven't cut my finger using the cutter but I have cut it when I have forgotten to click my blade back in and brushed against it.

I teach my kids in class how to use the rotary cutters and it freaks me out every time they do, although no one has ever cut themselves. Then, at the sewing expo in WA this year, I found the Gypsy Grippers. I bought several of the "inbetween" size, we use 24" rulers in class and they work perfect. Keeps your hands off the ruler, away from the edge and the cutter. Gave me a TRUCKLOAD of peace of mind.

You can see them on www.thegypsyquilter.com.

I've ha two such accidents, the worst, i was working for the co tht dist. TAJIMA prof emb machines. set the room up for a group of people to buy a 4 head and 12 head machine (15 needles each), rotaried of the tip of my finger. the room was just redone 2 weeks b4, new carpeting ect. i bled all the way to the bathroom, where the tip of my finger wnt down he drain. swuprisingly, most of it grew back,
i don't know what happened to the sale, i was at the hospital, but when i came back a week later, they took away my cutter, said i was too dangerous, made me wear work boots too so i wouldn't cut my foot off. they made me thow away rotary cutter and blades, all 100 of em, and i snatched 'em back so i have blades for the rest of ths lifetime.(now if i couuld just find the whole box)!!!!

I've ha two such accidents, the worst, i was working for the co tht dist. TAJIMA prof emb machines. set the room up for a group of people to buy a 4 head and 12 head machine (15 needles each), rotaried of the tip of my finger. the room was just redone 2 weeks b4, new carpeting ect. i bled all the way to the bathroom, where the tip of my finger wnt down he drain. swuprisingly, most of it grew back,
i don't know what happened to the sale, i was at the hospital, but when i came back a week later, they took away my cutter, said i was too dangerous, made me wear work boots too so i wouldn't cut my foot off. they made me thow away rotary cutter and blades, all 100 of em, and i snatched 'em back so i have blades for the rest of ths lifetime.(now if i couuld just find the whole box)!!!!

I had a lady in one of my classes early on (right after rotary cutters came out) she nicked her finger but didn't say anything, just put her hand under the table, by the time I found out about it, she had a puddle on the floor. Got the first aid kit and bandaged her up, then had to clean up the mess. Ah we live and learn. Ever since that I stress. "Make sure you know where your fingers are before you cut!" Was at the LQS yesterday and a lady was purchasing a kit to do (her first quilt) Was asked about rotary cutters etc, so told her what I use and why and also "be sure you know where your fingers are. Hope she heard me. But she is a nurse, so would know what to do if she does cut her fingers.