Two firsts for me..
 

...after quilting for over 35 years. Making 2 T-shirt quilts for a man who lost one of his sons to suicide many years ago, he wants a quilt for each of his other kids.

Also seriously using a rotary cutter for the first time!! As I mostly work with scraps I always found scissors better. Plus I am very accident prone!! But for the shirts I taped two smaller cutting mats together and put them on a big piece of cardboard on the floor. Another cutting mat I have is exactly 13" x 13" and I am using that as a template. I had accumulated about 4 rotary cutters over the years and the first one I picked up, an Olfa, is working great. I am being very careful and not rushing.

Any tips on Tshirt quilts will be appreciated. I do have the iron on interfacing to use. Thank heavens I am just making the tops, very basic. Gotta get them done by the end of the month as a machine quilting date has already been set.

Wow - you have avoided using a rotary cutter all this time?

I use my coffee table (with a cutting mat on it) for cutting small pieces while the TV is on. (It is a good idea to watch what one is doing while cutting instead of the TV.)

My favorite ruler for cutting/trimming scraps is a 4 x 8 Ommigrid (the one with yellow) that is marked in a 1/8 inch grid.

https://www.sewingpartsonline.com/om..._content=Tools

It would be easier to see where the graphics fall if you could see thru your template. And are you applying the interfacing before you cut out the block?

no I am going to iron on after.

I could not live without my rotary cutters and my 24x36" cutting mat. I have made probably 300 or more quilts from 45x60" - to almost queen size. I made about 25 or more before they came out with rotary cutters and mats.

When cutting keep the blade against the ruler and keep your fingers on top of the ruler. Press on the ruler so it doesn't slip. Good luck.

The best way to avoid cutting yourself with a rotary cutter is to use a Slidelock ruler for cutting. It is used along with your marked cutting ruler, as it has no measurements on it. It takes an extra step, but that's a small price for the insurance of safety. One bad cut can mess up a hand for life.

Not only the Slidelock helps to avoid cutting myself, I have found that it has helped my cutting longer strips more accurate.

does it matter which side of the cutter goes against the ruler?

I think I would iron on the interfacing first because T-shirts stretch a lot and the interfacing keeps it from stretching. The other thing I find helpful is using a sashing between the blocks as T-shirts can get bulky in the corners when sewn together.

It depends on your cutter - most are "ambidexterous" and can be used from either side, but some have a blade guard or other fastening parts that would get in the way on one side or the other - but usually those ones can be held with those parts either on the right or the left. So basically, it only matters if your cutter has parts that get in the way.

I'm right-handed, so I normally cut with the ruler to the left of the blade and the blade riding against the right-hand edge of the ruler (which means the ruler is against the left side of the blade/cutter).