O.k. Ladies, I want one of these, but every time I fold my fabric more than once I get wonky strips. What am I doing wrong?

You need to have the folded edge lined up very straight with the edge of the ruler closest to you. Not a perfect 90 degrees is what causes the wonky vees in the strip.

Yep what Irish rose said! Make sure fabric is folded straight! Good luck! Looooove mine! You can send me yours if u hate it! Lmbo!

what is the shape cutter?

Irish Rose is quite right. I use the lines on my cutting mat to make sure the edge of my fabric is straight, then, I use the shape cutter to cut my strips. I will even line up the horizontal lines of the shape cutter to the horizontal lines of my cutting mat (below the fabric) to make sure the cut is accurate.

You also need to make sure that your fabric is straight of grain. I fold it and let it sort of fold naturally and then square up my edge with new fold. Also, if doing more than one layer really smooth out, you don't want any bumps.

Yes, I was going to say the same thing. When you are folding your fabric from selvedge to selvedge, it doesn't matter if the sides don't line up. They can be trimmed up later. Make sure that the top and bottom selvedges are lined up and your layers lay flat for your first fold. Then fold again. Flatten everything out. (I use my iron to do this.) My ironed fold is the baseline where I put the straight horizontal line on the June Tailor ruler. No wonky strips.

I thought I was folding the fabric pretty well, but I will be super diligent next time. Thanks to everyone for their advice. I love this board (even w/ all the probs lately) and you dear ladies and gents are the greatest :!:

Basically the second fold has to be perfectly parallel to the first fold, and a black line on the Shape Cut has to line up perfectly with one of the folds. This ensures that the cuts will remain exactly 90 degrees from each fold.

To test the necessity for cuts to be exactly 90 degrees from the fold, take a piece of paper and fold it. Line up the fold with a line on the Shape Cut, cut a strip, and unfold to see how straight it is. Do the same thing again, except this time make sure that the line is a little "off" from being lined up with the fold. Cut, unfold the strip, and you will see the wonkiness near the fold.

didn't read the rest of posts, but I looovvve my shape cut!! please fold in half and kind of shake fabric to see where it wants to go. then fold again and do the same kind of shaking or wafting fabric back and forth. you might br upset by how much fabric you see on the edge, but believe me, when you trim the edge and then cut your strips you will be very pleased.

I do the shimmy shake like froggy mentioned, and then I measure between the folds to make sure they are perfectly parallel.

Excellent advice here! the fold off the bolt,is not always parallel. don;t go by the eveness of the cut edges,and you will be fine!

I used my Shape Cutter for a lot of 2 1/2" strips last night. I dscovered one more thing to be aware of. The horizonital lines are very thick, so the edge could be crooked under the line and I wouldn't know it. I made sure I could see a space first, then backed the fabric up just to the edge of the line. I shook my fabric straight, pressed it at 22", folded it again without pressing and put it on the table. I then lined the folded edge up with the EDGE of the black line, cut at zero to straighten and cut at 2 1/2" and 5". I did have to hold the ruler firmly for two reasons. 1)I don't have any Invisigrip on it yet and 2)with the slots cut in it, it's not as stable as a regular ruler. I had no wonky strips. Happy cutting.

I just purchased the Shape Cutter ruler today and was wondering if its going to move alot when you cut. Does everyone put Invisigrip on it? Is it just put on the edges?
Quilter 103

I have some kind of grips on mine (put on long ago). For me anyway, the ruler would move too easily without the grips.

I don't have any type of grips on mine. I just learned how to hold it firmly and I don't have problems.

It sure is great when cutting lots of stips, mine is the 1/2 inch one and I use it a great deal. I have to look sometime what other size would be good to have.

cheryl rearick- I love my shape cutter. Here's some info:

http://www.buycheapr.com/us/result.j...r+shape+cutter

http://www.junetailor.com/videos.htm--scroll down, it's the second entry.

Thank You