I checked the new tips page looking for help but I didn't see anything there concerning why I'm having trouble cutting my fabric. I put in a brand new blade in my rotary cutter and used a brand new self helaing mat and it seems that almost every cut I make skips a spot or two along the way. I'm not cutting too many thicknesses either.

Thank you to anyone who can give me some advice.

Could it be the angle you're holding the cutter with?

Are you holding your cutter straight up? The blade should glide alongside of the ruler.
If it is at an angle, you may get skipped cuts :D:D:D

Your new blade may have a nick in it. This happens a lot when you run into the corner or edge of your ruler. To avoid this, start your cut on the side of the ruler, cut back to the corner and then roll on to the end.

Or is there a burr on your template/ruler?

Have you had success with the same kind of mat in the past? I had to return one mat that was too hard.

are you putting enough pressure on the rotary cutter. I know that sometimes when I am cutting out it seems to miss bits here and there so I have to run the cutter over them a second or even a third time. but this normally only happens when I am cutting quite a few layers

I have done this myself, many times. I found that if I changed the angle of my cutter to straight up, it worked much better.

You know I probably nicked the new blade because I know that I sometimes run into the ruler. I just now cut some more fabric though and it cut fine. I was extra careful to keep the blade straight, I think I may have been cutting on a bit of an angle. Thank you all so much for your advice.

Hi Radiana,

When cutting don't start and the end of the ruler but slightly above the end and then go back to the end - but not past it - and then go forward to finish the cutting. This prevents nicking your ruler and your blade.

ali

Check to make sure you don't have 2 blades in your cutter, been there, done that, May in Jersey

Is there something under your matt?

Make sure that your cutting table is the proper height for you. If it is too high or low, you can't get your body in the right position to make accurate clean cuts. Also try to determine if you are using enough pressure. My one quilting buddy has trouble with this as she has some arthritis and doesm't seem to have enough strength to make clean cuts. We exchange cutting for binding and it works for both of us.

Lots of ideas, hope one works for you!

Oh, I've done this, too. Took me a while to figure out why my cuts looked "fuzzy" - sometimes it just takes me a while LOL

this happens alot

I've done that also.

I think the mat makes a difference, something I have just discovered recently. I had been using one of those gray mats, it was cheaper than the Olfa and I figured a mat was a mat. I bought one of those little Olfa mats with the turn table a few years ago. Right after that I had to stop quilting for a while on account of illnes. When I got back to quilting again a few months ago, I forgot I had the little Olfa mat. Then I was digging through my stuff and discovered it a couple of weeks ago. When I used it, I was amazed a how well the cutter worked on that mat. It did not skip at all, but the with the same blade it skipped on the old mat. I ordered a 24 x 36 Olfa mat and received it yesterday. I used it all afternoon with the same blade that skipped on the old mat, and it did not skip once on the Olfa. I love that mat. I cannot even begin to describe the differences in it and the old mat. No telling how many blades I wasted before getting it.

Make sure there's nothing under your mat and that you have it on a hard surface. Someone about 2 weeks ago was trying to use it on a carpeted floor.

I prefer my green mat from Joann's over the gray Fiskars from Walmart. I also have a June Tailor Cut & Press that sits by my machine for trimming and it is sort of bumpy so it will cause the blade to skip if I don't put enough pressure on the cutter.

ditto, usually the reason

I have a tendency to hold the rotary cutter at an angle and then it skips. If I remember to hold it straight up then no more skipped cuts!

This is important...it will prevent you from cutting properly and is very easy to do. Good luck

Me too!!! Glad I am not alone on that!! :)
Sass

Is the blade loaded on the cutter correctly? Is the blade turning? I have put the cutter back together wrong without thinking, and the blade did not move. Re-did it, and it was fine.

When you changed the blade did you put it on the correct side of the cutter? Best to double check!

(yes, been there, done that, have the t-shirt:))

Make sur there isn't a slight dip or bow in the table your mat is on. I have that problem if my mat gets in a certain spot on my one table.
:-D

This is something that I did that had some of the same results as you are experiencing. I tightened the screw on the cutter too tight which caused the blade to nick the plastic on my almost new cutter. Thinking it was a bad batch of blades, I kept changing them. When that didn't work I bought a new mat, which I needed anyway, but, still was having the problem. I finally looked closely at my cutter and found the nick on the plastic. It could have been there when I bought it, but I think I caused it from having the screw too tight.

I've occasionally gotten a brand new blade that always skips one thread.

The only solution (that I've com up with) is to replace the blade and hope it's a better one.

Glad to know all is well now! Interesting to read just how many posts were made after this one. I counted 16.

glad to see that someone else picked up on the fact that radiana solved her problem. does anyone read through before answering?