Info about Sizzix Big Shot fabric cutters
 

Does anyone on this board have a fabric cutter either Sizzix or Accu-cutter and if so can you tell me about it? Such as ease of use, learning curve to use, how you like it, etc . Any info would be great. I have been reading and watching you-tube videos. I wanted to hear from someone who owns a fabric cutter.

Have the Accuquilt GO - and I am very pleased with it. I hit my scrap collection and was able to cut and piece a lap quilt top in an afternoon - each block had 12 half squares and 4 whole blocks for the corners. By using their smart layering technique - the pieces come off of the cutter ready to go under the needle of the sewing machine. This tool is amazing.

I have a Sizzix Big Shot Plus and it's great, cuts and the handle turns very easily. No hand, wrist or shoulder pain with use. I only have three dies for it at the moment: a 6 inch square and a 2.5" strip die for binding or jelly rolls and I have an Accuquilt kitty die that I have an adapter for. I use the strip die the most for binding, I've probably cut miles and miles of binding with it. I'm saving up for some HST dies. I buy my dies on Amazon and they are on sale frequently.

The way it works is: you have a clear plastic sheet under the die, the die itself, the fabric, then another clear plastic sheet. You feed this sandwich thru the die cutter by turning the handle and it cuts your fabric. The top clear plastic sheet is sacrificial and will need replacing eventually. Took me about five minutes to learn. Took my hubby half of that ;) You can buy the plastic sheets on Amazon as well but my hubby went to a plastics company and ordered them cut to size.

I made a quilt for a beloved child in my life with my square and strip dies and cut it out in less than an hour and the piecing was a dream because everything was perfectly cut. Much better and faster than I could do on my own with a ruler. Accuquilt is also a good company, I spent a long time looking at all the cutters out there.

I have the Sizzix Big Shot Pro. It’s a little bigger than the Big Shot Plus and is configured a little differently. It has a heavy metal tray that carries your dies, fabric, cutting pad and whatever shims(adaptors) you might need for the kind of die you're using. It’s easy to use, the instruction book is quite good at helping figure out how to adapt it for use with any other manufacturer’s dies.

The upsides of the BigshotPro are: 1. it can use just about any dies on the market (including Go dies). 2. Since it is their most heavy duty machine, you can get dies that are sturdy enough to cut through more layers of fabric than with the regular Go dies. and 3.you can design your own die and have Sizzix make it to your specs if you’re into that kind of thing.

The downside is that it doesn’t fold, so it takes a lot of space.

I keep mine set up all the time rather than trying to store it away in between uses. I love it. I use it to help keep my scraps under control. I’ve also noticed that my piecing improved quite a bit when I started using it to cut HSTs.

I use mine for cutting a wide variety of material, including paper, chipboard and very thin crafting metal in addition to quilting fabric.

Rob

They both cut fine. I have the Go Crank and have used the Sizzix at workshops.

I bought the accuquilt Go and it was too limiting for me. I wanted to use other brand dies in it, and I wanted to use dies bigger than the machine allowed (this was the original one-I think the current electric one is bigger). So I sold it and bought the Big Shot Pro. I love it. No regrets whatsoever. My husband and I built a rolling cart for it. The machine sits on top and there's room underneath for dies, cutting plates, etc. I also have a lot of low profile dies for cutting paper (they might cut fabric too) so I bought the extra shims and pads for it and they were pretty reasonably priced.

I have the Accuquilt Go and really like the precision of the blocks when sewing. I think it's really expensive though. I have basics in dies but they have a lot of stuff I'm not interested in.
I find it very user friendly too.
One thing you have to remember with the Go is to have the fabric on the straight of grain while feeding it. But that's not a big deal.

I love my Sizzix Big shot Pro and have many dies for it. I can use Accuquilt Go and Accuquilt Studio dies too by adjusting the shim or taking it out. The only ones that do not fit are the ones that are too wide. If I had to do it again I would get the same machine. I was worried I would have a lot of waste of fabric but just the opposite. Also it increased my accuracy and ease of piecing. I am a ninja on the rotary cutter and rulers but the cutter machine is much faster. I bought the machine to decrease strain from rotary cutting. A big heavy machine like that does need a designated space. My friend bought the Sizzix Big Shot and that machine is portable and smaller but equally impressive. You can run Accuquilt Go dies on that machine also but not the Studio ones. Again as long as they fit. some of the dies for the electric Accuquilt go are very wide and will not fit but on the Accuquilt electric die cutter.

Sizzix dies run cheaper then Accuquilt dies and I like them better.

I have the Accuquilt Go Big (electric) and love it--I have shoulder and carpal tunnel issues and it's a lifesaver. Plus the precision is awesome--and with just my rotary cutter, I am not. I bought the strip die bundle and use it a lot! And have the 12" Qube which gives lots of other shapes, plus purchased some more unique ones such as Drunkard's Path. And don't worry about "wasting fabric"--their website provides several videos on how to fan-fold your fabric, etc to get the most out of your set-up. (I think Accuquilt usually has a sale on die machines the week of or after Thanksgiving too)

I have a Sizzix Big Shot and it is very easy to use and much cheaper than the Accuquilt. The accuquilt is nice but some sized dies are not available individually (for instance a 5" square). I'll keep my Big Shot and get more value for my money