Yep, I agree that it could be your mat. Those white ones do not last as good as the others. Even the self healing mats need replacing every so often. One suggestion, buy your blades when Joann's has them on sale for 40 or 50% off.

I have one of the blue ones, but it was the first one I bought. A green Olfa is probably what you want. (I have several of those now.) Use a 40% off coupon from Hobby Lobby or download a coupon for Hancocks or whatever store you have. That will make the cost much better. Probably you want one that says self-healing. Not sure about that. I can't seem to find that information on mine. Maybe all Ofla are self-healing, or maybe mine aren't. :)

Dina

There has been chatter about where to buy your rotary blades. I have in the past bought them at JAF and have no problem with them. Hope that you are cutting on a proper self healing rotary mat and not one of those plastic imitation mats. One nick on an acrylic ruler will ruin the blade.

Hope you post a picture. There are a bunch of us that are Bargellos lovers.

...or you may be hitting into the ruler which nicks the blade. If so, try holding the rotary cutter straight instead of letting it move on an angle. I used to nick the blades and the rulers until I got better at using the rotary cutter.

WAWAK.com has good prices on blades, no coupons needed.

Use caution about bearing down hard on the blade - I think this just makes it more difficult to cut, will give you hand fatigue, and if you slip or something breaks you're more likely to get injured. I have been told to push forward, not down when cutting fabric and that tip has made my hands feel a lot better after doing a lot of cutting. Firm pressure should be all you need. I don't change my blades very often at all (every 3-4 quilts probably) and I often cut through 6-8 layers at a time, and I don't need to press that hard on the blade. Firm, yes. Hard, no. (I use a 60mm blade, which helps with all the layers, and they seem to stay sharper longer than the 45's too, but that could just be my imagination.)

I'm also not at all impressed with the ruler that's supposed to sharpen as you cut. I have one and I swear it DULLS my blades, so I've stopped using that edge. (Fortunately the sharpening stuff is just on one edge)

I've tried sharpening blades and I get a little more use out of them, but not much, and if there's a nick there's no saving the blade. So I just buy new blades. (I was using those blue manual sharpeners though, a powered one might do better.)

Welcome to your new addiction, and I do hope you post a pic! There are a LOT of bargello fans here, myself included. :)

I use no more than 1 blade per queen/king quilt. I think the suggestions about the cutting board are valid. I use an Olfa mat. I haven't tried sharpeners. I did try Harbor Freight carpet cutting blades with poor results. Someone recently provided a source for blades by the 100's.

Hmmmmmmm. I use mostly precuts, but I remember my blades did not last very long either. I recently bought a new Olfa mat and that might have been my problem. I was using a Fiskars mat.

You might also be holding your cutter wrong - yes there is a correct way. Here is a link to Nancy Zimmerman - I looked out there and was surprised at how many of the examples aren't really correct, or like how I was shown. The two important things that I was taught was that 1) the ridges on top of the handle - your index finger should be on that and 2) the angle that you hold it. I have a lot of friends who when I showed them the angle got much better cutting results.

OK here is the link - hit post too quick
http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog/sewi...-cutting-tips/

a way to extend the life of the mat is to soak it in the tub, it will remain self healing longer...