How did you manage?! (before rotary cutters)
 

It's something I hadn't really thought about before but I read recently that rotary cutters didn't really come into existence until about 1979. It is my understanding then that scissors were used (or maybe tearing?) So my question to all those quilting before the rotary cutter (and for those who choose not to use one) how on earth did you get such nice seams? :shock: I find I struggle WITH the rotary tool haha. And looking at quilts from the 1800's and such - amazing. Color me impressed!

(Just something I was thinking about while struggling to get nice, even cuts).

I fully admit I am likely missing something obvious here...

they took their time and they were accurate! I was totally amazed a few years back when i used a bunch of 60 degree diamonds that my grandmother had cut out before she passed away in 1945. I thought i'd have to square them up - but didn't!! They were all perfect. Looked like she had a cardboard template maybe and used a pencil to draw lines to cut.

I used electric scissors and templates...sew thankful we have rotary cutters (not to mention Accu-Quilt....)

Taking the time to make templates to draw on the back of the fabric took a LOT of time. At least we could do the cutting out while watching the kids, cooking, or watching in the evening. Sewing well made the seams so good.

My mother used cardboard templates and pinking shears. Talk about tedious. But these women were patient and worked on their quilting at odd times, at least in my house. I'm surprised she ever got any sewing done but we all had the best clothes and doll clothes and sometimes these were without a proper pattern. Amazing.
I wouldn't sew if I had to use scissors!

i can't live w/out a good pair of scissors!!! LOL!!

We used to trace around homemade templates. I used to make mine from old file folders. I still have the first rotary cutter that my mother bought me. It still works great. Believe it or not when they first came out there wasn't any rotary cutter mat. You would cut on old magazines. Thankfully that didn't last long. It dulled the blades pretty fast!
I think I have been quilting for about 35 years.

Colleen

I used to cut templates from old cereal boxes. I stopped quilting for years, and when I came back to it, I was amazed at the new tools and techniques--I felt like I had discovered America! :)

I can remember using templates (MIL used whatever she could find) and scissors to cut her quilt blocks out for her. The last blocks that I cut out for her, she made me a quilt out of them. That was her last one she ever made. That one is pretty special to me.

In the not too distant future someone will be asking -- how did you manage before before Accu-quilt? We just work with the best tools we have available. I think sometimes we lose a little bit of skill with each new invention!

My first pieced quilt was cut with scissors. After that I purchased a mat, rotary cutter, and ruler. This was in 1995.

When I worked in the fabric department in 1956 we used a meter for measuring yardage, you put in a corner and pull it through to the amount the customer wanted, ie 2 yards, and push the arm down and it would cut about an inch, them take it out of the meter and tear it. We used scissors for cutting out patterns.
back in those days, we also used our arms as measuring tools. We didn't have rulers like today, we had a wooden yard stick, and tape measure. I do remember using feed sacks for skirts for the kids. I still have a box of patterns from the 1950's which I will probably never use. lol People look at my sewing room and make remarks like (boy, you have a lot of stuff, must have cost you a fortune). I don't tell them that some of the things are 30 years old. I have serger thread that I bought in 1980. The moved my sewing room around and some of the cones were crumbling in my hand, but the thread was still strong.

What gets me is that in the 1800s those quilters did it without the fancy glasses and lighting we have now! HOW???!

I'd give up my sewing machine before giving up my die cut machine and dies. I can always handstitch the pieces together. Rotary cutting is not as accurate as die cutting no matter how precise you try to be but rotary is much better then scissors. If I was quilting back in my great grandmother's time I'd just be making yo yos and hexie quilts. Maybe that was why so many of those were made.

I had a dream the other night in which a lady was measuring fabric with a meter. I must have seen them when I was a kid, but I'd forgotten all about them! There was an audible "kerchunk" when they notched the fabric. How many things hide in our memories until something triggers them? :)

When I first started quilting I used cardboard, pencils and scissors. I didn't think much about it. Even my first GFG quilt I used a plexiglass template, traced it on the fabric and then cut it. Then a friend of mine took a quilting class, found out about the rotary cutter and mat. We went to FedCo and bought the Olfa set for I believe was $15.00. We thought we had died and gone to heaven. I still have the mat and cutter - both still work well. The mat is too small now - but at the time it was perfect.

My first 6 x 18 inch ruler - well, lets just say it was a few curves that weren't there when it was new. I still have it for sentimental reasons, but no longer use it.

Back then I only sewed clothes (I was in HS in 79) so I only used regular scissors. I didn't have my first rotary cutter until at least 1988 or so and I didn't have a mat. I put down cardboard and probably ended up cutting through the carpet. lol

I still remember the first time I saw a rotary cutter demonstrated. It was mesmerizing! An absolutely brilliant idea! I think I bought it right then and there.

Scissors and templates, marking, and pinning was how we did it. I didn't (give in) and try out a rotary cutter until about 2004,5. I still mark and pin for precision

DH and I piece mostly from scraps. So we still use scissors. When we moved we threw out a whole bunch of templates made from cardboard.

If anyone thinks this method is way too slow, in the last 30 years we have pieced over 1000 quilts and tops.

What a wonderful thread of conversation! Well, for us older folks, anyway! LOL! Yep.. I do remember the days before the fancy tools! My first quilts were cut out with sissors and I marked around cardboard templates with plain old #2 pencil! The fabrics were left over from making clothes for myself and my kids, and what my sister-in-law had left from sewing for herself and her kids, and what my mom had left over... or wherever else I could get it! It wouldn't have occurred to me to go buy fabric for the express purpose of making a quilt back then. Ahhhhh... now I love my GO! cutter and my longarm and my wonderful cotton fabrics, but I still remember those "good old days". LOL!

I used templates that I traced around, card board or thin plastic, and sharp scissors. I was not able to do the 1/4 inch seams accurate then. It took some time to learn that.

I can remember using templates and sissors and a sharp pencil ... it took quite a bit of time. A lot of quilts did not make it past the cutting stage , or maybe a bit of piecing. I can remember my first rotary cutting experience... LIFE CHANGING!

I am always amazed at the beautiful quilts that were made before the great notions we have now. Sometimes it puts me to shame. I'm so lazy now that if I can't cut it with the rotary cutter, I probably won't do it.
I saved cereal boxes to make templates. I read some articles on the history of quilting. They talked about the cardboard templates that were used and shared with other quilters. Sometimes the templates wore down and became a new pattern.

My grandparent's home never had electricity: oil lamps/candles were used. (Oddly enough, it did have indoor plumbing) I saw the Baltimore Album quilts on display at Lovely Lane Methodist Church and also the exhibit at the Maryland Historical Society both a few years ago now. I can't imagine doing that work without magnifiers/strong lighting. I too still have and use the first rotary cutter I ever purchased and I'd like to know how many miles of fabric has been cut by that little gizmo!!

I recall an early project was cutting 5" squares from blue fabrics...calicoes. Done with scissors. Sewn on a basic Singer machine I got at Joann's, along with a sewing kit that actually had items in the top plastic tray!
That blue squares quilt...was actually tied, and I still have it. :)
I made many doll quilts, wall hangings, quilts, etc. Got a rotary cutter and a white mat around 1985.......

My Aunt Maude who inspired me to quilt used cardboard templates and scissors. It is what I used with my first quilt. That is why I always say rotary cutter mat and ruler when someone post the question what is your favorite quilting tool??

Scissors and templates for me too.

We are all so different. The first thing I wanted to do when I decided to want to quilt was go choose new fabric. It never occurred to me to want to use scrap fabric or clothing. Not much cotton fabric to choose from then though. I bought poly/cotton blend in floral and solids to make a string quilt as you go quilt with poly batting. That first quilt is decades old and on my youngest DD's bed. It's been washed to death and no tears or fraying.

Thank you all for sharing your wonderful stories! No one in my family were big sewers and my one great aunt that made my baby quilt has long since passed. It's great to get some different perspectives!

I found several bags of cardboard templates in a box I purchased at an auction a couple of years ago. I just cannot throw them away. I plan to use them for hand quilting templates when I finally get around to that, or possibly for applique templates.

Thin cardboard templates, lead pencils to draw carefully around them, good quality scissors, a straight stitch sewing machine, scrap fabric from making clothing for the family and a lot of patience resulted in some very fine quilts.

I cut out my first quilt using scissors. I'd used a cardboard template and a pencil to trace onto my fabrics. That silly cardboard piece got smaller as I went. I still don't know how I managed to put that quilt top together.<sigh>
It was a red,white and turquoise 9-patch, made from weaver's K cloth and an other poly blend red fabric from the remnant pile at House of Fabrics.

This brings me to ask--why do we discount using polyester fabrics for our quilts? Why do the quilt police "require" only cotton? We like the puff of poly batting. Personally I like the sheen of poly and that it holds color so much better than cotton, especially black!

I have some of my mother's templates that were cut from sandpaper. They held to the fabric better than the cardboard ones that she also had. Some were also cut from the sheets in bacon packages. Waste not, want not!

You spent a LOT of time cutting. You didn't cut more than 2 layers of fabric at a time, because it would shift. Every thing had to be pined. And most of all your cutting hand would start to hurt.

I used to use templates cut from the plastic lids of cottage cheese or margarine containers. The corners didn't round off after drawing around it 100s of times. Then cut out with scissors, get blisters on my thumb from the scissors and hand piece together. I even did one by hand out of double knit, 2.5 inch scrap squares, hand quilted with poly batting. I still have it and it's still useable. I still have a tub of double knit, but I have doubts that I will ever use it.

I still have my Mother's template, with all the pencil/pen marks still on it. It was made of glass and is a perfect 6" square!

I primarily made costumes for local playhouse back then. I used either electric or regular scissors. My grandmother used cardboard templates, a pencil and scissors. She was a perfectionist that makes my work look like a beginner!

I remember tracing with pencil/pen and cutting with scissors-it took forever -I love rotary cutters-I could not work without one any more.