I'm making a single-Irish-chain for my cousin & his wife for their wedding. 9 patches are all done. I only need to cut 9 more plain squares, of at least 8". My cutting and seam allowances are not yet as accurate as I would like, so I was cutting them larger, then trimming them down once I sewed them to the 9 patches. Now, I only have a piece of fabric left that's 19" x 40 1/2". I can easily get two rows, but I can't make even one cutting mistake in cutting each row into 5 blocks.

I laid this piece of fabric on my table last Saturday morning, intending to cut these squares, and even finish the top by the end of the day. But it's still sitting there on the table a week later. Oy, I can see how dramatic I'm being.

Do you ever get nervous to cut your fabric?

Definitely! It is hard to cut when you have to be so accurate and I haven't been piecing that often. It is really hard and I just let it lie there, too. However, you will have to do it for it to be done. I was doing the D9P and after you get the 9 patch made then you have to cut it apart, perfectly, and I was really not wanting to do it, but I did and it turned out fine. You'll do fine, too.

Yup, I get stuck every time I'm about to take what feels like a "high risk" step. I totally understand your hesitation.

My advice is to check you calculations, check them a second time, and then check them a third. Then ask yourself:

1. What's the worst that can happen if you're wrong?

2. If "the worst" happens, how might you proceed?

If your plan seems logical and you can imagine a Plan B (even if it's not as good as Plan A) JUST DO IT!

In fact, the worst that can happen is that you won't produce any quilt at all. That would be very sad!

The only thing I can add is when you go to do the cut.



DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES!!!!

Now deep breath, you will be fine :)

Try useing a brown paper bag, the kind you get from the grocery store, and mark off the size bocks you are going to cut. See if the cut paper is the way you like and if so continue on your fabric.

Sushi wrote: "What's the worst that can happen if you're wrong?"

The worst that could happen is that I would have to piece one of the plain squares from scraps of the same fabric. That would ruin the whole quilt and absolutely ruin my life, wouldn't it? /sarcasm/

No .... it wouldn't ..... :D :D

Have some faith in yourself and just forge ahead .... you will do FINE!

I get nervous every single time I cut.

I have never been nervous cutting fabric. I just measure twice and CUT IT!!! This drives my quilting budding crazy :)

What kind of ruler are you using? How do you cut down the center square once it is attached to the 9 patches? I am confused, here. But yes, I know how much it sucks to cut your fabric wrong and run out. Not fun.