If it is a cutting problem, make sure you are standing straight over your fabric and looking straight down. also make sure the blade is screwed in tightly if it is wobbably (sp?) at all you will be off on your cut. If it is a sewing problem, make sure you use a machine gulde that screws into your deck of your machine, or at least a foot that has a qtr inch side to it. Keep trying...Use bigger pieces they then to be more forgiving. I just spent all afternoon picking out stiches on 6 lengths of fabric, because I didn't follow my own advice and put the fabric guilde on the machine. I guess I'm a slow learner too.

Sounds like the only thing left to consider is your 1/4" seam allowance. I know that was hard for me in the beginning since I didn't realize how important it was. After making an extremely bad quilt top, I discovered how to get those seams right. I used sev. kinds of measurement tools til I developed an eye for it. I still double ck my seams as I go.

Also look at your cutting surface/table. Is it the right height? Are you leaning over it and cutting awkwardly?

I have found that having a smaller cutting table at the right height is best for me. It holds the 17x23 Martelli mat perfectly and I cna literally walk around whatever I am cutting. BTW, my sutting is a portable and collapsible kitchen center [I took the knife holder off it.]

ali

Are you sitting while you cut your fabric or are you standing up to cut. I can not get my blocks to work right if I sit while cutting them out. Which I have done on some in the past and they are always wrong. If I stand over my mat when I am cutting, and keep the cutter vertically- no slant, holding the blade so it is just touching the ruler edge, I have good success. Everyone else may not do theirs this way and what may work for one may not work for you. But there are so many ideas given here that you can try. I would recommend practicing on some very inexpensive fabric or lots of scraps, until you are comfortable with working with a rotary cutter, and you can get you blocks the way you want them.

Are we talking about a tiny fraction of an inch.. or a few threads different? or something larger..

One of the things that can cause you to have slightly differing cuts is that fabrics are different.. or sometimes they fabric isn't truely square.. so a perfectly cut block might lean a bit one way or the other..

Also once a block is cut we pick it up move it here and there.. perhaps press it.. Fabric is not stable.. it can and does move.. some more than others.. wood is stable.. you cut one inch.. you have one inch.. fabric gives, so it can be a tiny smig off.. .

I would say if it's only a tiny bit.. a few threads.. or the lean of the block.. don't worry.. when you sew and press and square up your blocks, all will work out just fine! Remember quilting is FUN, and RELAXING, not something to frustrate and irritate you..

I had trouble cutting different sizes as well till I figured out I was using two different rulers. One has the 1/4 inch added to the ruler in blue and the other ruler didn't have the 1/4 inch. When I get ready to sew I use the ruler with the 1/4 inch in blue to make sure my needle is in the 1/4 inch position to sew.

I agree with QuilterGuy - cut 1/8 to 1/4 inch larger square than needed - Sew your HST then square up to the correct measurements - some quilters use 1/2" larger, but I feel that is more waste than necessary. When squaring up you are also cutting off the dog ears so two jobs for one. Good luck.

I have a little suction handle on my ruler so I can pick it up straight and not let it slide on the fabric when I have to move it for another cut. It really helps.

That was my thought also when she said they looked right on the mat. Maybe your needle needs to be moved left or right a notch or two. good luck.

Another thing to remember when you rotary cut is to always have one finger from the hand holding the ruler on the fabric! It's usually the pinkie. This helps stabilize the ruler.

Hi, I am fairly new to the board, however, at our local quilt guild they taught us not to pay attention to the measurements on our cutting mat because they are not always accurate. They taught us that if the measurement on the mat is off by only 1/16", the quilt block will be off because you are multiplying that 1/16" by each piece you cut. Soon you could be off by 1/4" or more. They said to pay attention to the measurement on your cutting ruler. Does this make sense? I have found it to be much more accurate. Hope this helps you.

yes Twinkie ;you are absolutely correct.

Believe it or not, I found that my cutting mat measurements were off!! Not too long ago I started using a 36x24 inch Fiskars cutting board, and was using the inch marks to line up my fabric to make cuts. Well, when my blocks were screwy--which has never happened before, I finally measured my ruler against the cutting mat--and found that the cutting mat was off 1/4 inch by the time the mat reached 18 inches!! I measured my cutting ruler against other rulers, and the ruler was spot-on in its measurements. It was the mat that was not accurate!! Grrr. So now I don't use the mat to make cutting measurements, I just use it as a mat.

I found like some of the other posts, that I don't always put the line on the ruler on exactly the same place on the edge of the fabric and that makes things off just a bit. I keep trying though!

I don't think this has been mentioned but it's very important. If your cutting a piece of fabric 4 inches wide then every fourth cut you have to re straighten the edge. 6 inch width cut, re straighten every sixth cut and so forth. At least check to see if it is exactly straight after every few cuts. I always had to re cut to get a straight edge after cutting a few strips. I bought the Go because I was tired of spending time cutting and being frustrated and making it work anyway.

I don't wash my fabrics on the most part and I get a perfect cut all the time. There is no need to pre-wash fabrics unless you are using flannel (because it shrinks too much) or a really red with a light color just in case. ALL fabric is washed at the dye houses, usually with Tide, before the industrial rolls are sent off to be cut into bolts. Now I have a 99cent/yd store near me that are end cuts from a dress making factory, etc. They do get great quilt & clothing fabrics in but the place is filthy so I wash that fabric before it hits my sewing room! I do notice a difference in cutting and everything with it having been washed.

Probably already covered this, but HST's need to be slightly larger than the square size you want to end up with. Here's a link to some estimator charts:

http://sentimentalstitches.net/instr...res-triangles/

You are measuring with the ruler and not the lines on the mat.....right?

Someone told me to use a "scant" 1/4 inch seam. Sew a 1/4" seam, then move your needle to the right one notch. This should be a scant. If you are making blocks, you can then square them. I do know what you mean. After I cut one length, I check the remaining material with my ruler to make sure it is square, if not, square it again before you cut another length. I hope that this makes sense. Rulers can move on you when you are cutting. Is the table you are cutting on, flat? I noticed that my cutting board does have a dip in it.

I have a question for you- how do you cut your fabric with the Cricut? I have read about it and tried once without success. Maybe you can help me?
Thanks.

are you standing up to cut or sitting down? I cut best standing, ...

Just square them up as best as you can and cheat the seams to make em straight! Perfection is just a pipe dream and normal a setting on your dryer :lol: It is more important to enjoy what you are doing than to stress yourself out on being perfect.

When I first began quilting, I took a class from a professional, and we put dots on the fabric 1/4" in at all corners, then ran a pin through those dots. The results were beautiful. I'm just finishing a Lone Star and the templates in the book all had those dots. I matched them up carefully (every piece, all 288 of 'em!) and it worked perfectly.

Are you sewing bias edges to blocks cut on the straight of the goods? This can cause problems if you're not really careful.

Also, when you're pressing, just PRESS, don't iron by sliding the iron on your material. Even a little bit of the resultant stretching can cause problems.

Hi, "Stitchnripper" ..... I just saw your pink and lavender quilt, and it's beautiful! Such a lovely blending of colors.

A while ago a teacher came to our Quilt group and one thing she said was that if your ruler had thick lines you work will be out and adding all the seams with that fraction of an inch out will be big enough to throw your work out. Also check that your ruler is measuring right and with straight lines, use a metal tape measure as it wont be stretched and see if the measurements are right. She said to get rulers with thin lines and if you are getting different sizes make sure they are all the same maker as that too could be throwing your work out. Hope this helps you.

Now to summarize all this and put it into a tutorial!

Amen...

I have watched a demo with cutting fabric with a Cricut, but the lady had to do a lot of fiddling and it seemed like it took a lot of time just to cut out a simple shape. I have the Accuquilt "GO" cutter and it is "SEW" much faster and very accurate cuts. Hope this helps.
Jenelle

You know i was having a real problem with my blocks not coming out right and it had nothing to do with my cutting but everything to do with my seam. I was using a 1/4 in foot and I was using that and thinking that all of my seams would be 1/4 inch but they were not. Use the 1/4 inch seam guide on your throat plate of your machine and see if that helps or not. You may also need to put your pinky out on the cutting board when you are cutting. My mom always told me measure twice and cut once. It has truely helped me out a lot. Hope that helps. Jennifer

You can pm me if you like, I'd be happy to help in any way I can.

With the Cricuts, you pretty much only use them for applique. You have to use a stablizer, I usually use the heat n bond lite, to be able to cut with it.

Someone suggested using freezer paper, and then pulling it off after cutting it. This sounds like a fantastic idea! I'm going to try it, and I'll let you know.

The Cricut is absolutely amazing. If you don't have the software to use a computer with it(SCAL, MTC) you should get it. Never have to buy another cartridge again, and you can cut ANY image you can see on your computer screen!

OdessaQuilts has Very good guidelines which I totally agree with.

One think I haven't seen addressed is if you are measuring your cut from your cutting mat or your ruler. I find that if I measure from my ruler I have less problems. I also put a strip of tape, like 2 layers of the blue masking tape on the line where I need to stop, if I'm cutting 2" strips I put it on the BACK (down) side of my ruler at 2", leaving 2" between the edge of the ruler and the tape, so that the tape stops the ruler from sliding on the fabric at exactly the same place each time I lay it against the edge of the fabric. I usually cut 4 layers at a time. I hope you see what I'm saying?

You can also use the layered tape on your sewing machine as a stop at 1/4" to guide you fabric at exactly the same width on each piece, which helps a LOT. I use a 1/4" foot with a 'bumper' on the side to help keep my seams all the same. I also use the same machine all the way thru a project for consistency thruout that project.

My last suggestion is that only God is absolutely perfect? A lot of us are perfectionists but I have come to the conclusion that life is too short and I have too many quilts to make to worry about everything being perfect. When it's all one big quilt and the quilting is done even I can't find some of the mistakes that I thought were glaring at me when I did the individual block.

Good Luck!

Ruthy ....haven't you heard? The reason you can't find those mistakes is because when you take a quilt off the frame and shake it, they all fall out! :lol:

Bonnie, I had to laugh at this idea. I'll have to remember to shake hard.
You folks have me searching the thrift stores now. I went to Salvation Army yest. & found a 3+ yd. pc. of thin batting, 6 yds of blue print flannel, 3 1/2 yds. of pink print flannel & 2 good size pcs. of eyelet material in white & beige. All for $14.

One other pc. I found I thought was thin batting but when I got it home & ck'd it closer, it's a knit that stretches. I have no idea what to use it for.

Make you some pillow cases with it. They may stay on the pillows well since it stretches. Or you could make you some green bags for shopping, if it stretches it will hold more lol.

Gerbie, I would never have thought of making pillow cases. Good idea.

Thanks so much Bonnie, I had not heard about that before. I'll remember and share it with my friends! :thumbup:

I find lighting to be VERY important when I'm rotary cutting. If the light is not directly over my ruler, a shadow can make the measurement slightly 'off.'

This has been a GREAT thread. I'm eager to start cutting out my next quilt! I've finally finished all my other projects, and I get to do something for MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

WOW! All projects finished! I won't live that long. :-D

I was beginning to think I wouldn't live that long either. The older I get, the slower I get LOL

Sadly, they were not new quilting projects. One was mending a lap quilt that I originally made for my son in '97. One DGS has nearly loved it to death. Every piece in the quilt is a diamond - a pain in the butt to mend. I still had some of the original fabrics , so I embroidered his fav animal, elephants, on some of diamonds, inserted them in the hopelessly worn-out areas, hand embroidered over some of the less-hopelessly worn areas, and I re-hand quilted most of it. I haven't HAND quilted for years, so this was truly done for love of Henry - and it took a lot more time than I expected.

The other project was sewing dresses (yes DRESSES) for my college-bound DGD. She loves dresses - looks great in them - 5'10" - long and slim waisted, so she can NEVER find anything that fits in stores. My dressmaking skills were pretty rusty, so the dresses took a lot more time than I expected, too. But I have the altered patterns, so now I can easily make more dresses.

Lucky you, I still can't seem to get all of my ufo's finished. I have a special quilt I want to do but have at least three others ahead of it. Time will let me make it though.