So I decided to buy a pinking blade for my rotary cutter, and am I ever glad I did! This is the first time I've made a quilt that didn't have ten thousand little threads hanging off the back of it, as you can see from the photos below. Works like a charm and I'll never go back to regular blades.

This is a baby quilt that I made this weekend. I make them to have on hand to give to co-workers, and also to practice as I am a relatively new quilter. I'm not really pleased with this one, though (but not because of the pinking blade, because of the fabric combination). I'll post a picture of the front once I finish quilting it.

interesting, I never thought of that

I bought one a few months ago to trim edges before prewashing--never thought of using it to cut pieces--is it hard to keep your 1/4" seam?

How much of a seam allowance did you use?

I used 1/4 inch, same as always, and it turned out great. I wanted to try it with a small quilt first, and I'm sold! No problem maintaining the 1/4 inch. As it leaves little saw tooth edges on the fabric, I noticed when sewing two pieces together that you will never get your "teeth" to match up, but it doesn't matter, they can be uneven, as it doesn't effect the final work.

And, there are not ten thousand threads stuck to my clothes and all over my dining room and kitchen floors, either! (Longing for the day when I can build a proper sewing room...*sigh*).

Interesting! Thanks for posting. Can't wait to see the front of your quilt.

Did you use a ruler? Wouldn't a pinking blade have to cut with it's inside edge against the ruler so the piece would end up larger than if you cut with a straight blade? Or are you somehow measuring the seam allowance from the inside edge of the cut?

I really seem to have an issue with fabric fraying. If this is the solution to stop those threads, I'm buying a pinking blade tomorrow. Thanks for the tip!

It's definitely worth a try !!

Yes, I used a ruler to cut my fabric. The pinking blade is a zig-zag, so part of the rotary (the "zig" part) butts up against the ruler when cutting, and part of it (the "zag" part) is a few millimetres away from the side of the ruler. The "zig" part hits the ruler in the same place that a conventional rotary cutter abutts the ruler.

When I was sewing the 1/4" seams, I used the outermost part of the cut fabric to align my seam to. There are parts of the fabric that are, indeed, a bit smaller than the edge, and that part is closest to the machine needle. The outermost part of the fabric edge is still closest to the right hand side of the machine, in the same manner as a conventionally cut, straight-line fabric would be. I aligned my 1/4" seam using the outermost edge. By doing so, my 6" blocks turned out to be perfectly 6.5" before I sewed all the blocks together.

I use Triangulations to made half-square triangles - see a demo of this at http://www.connectingthreads.com/tut...ideo__D30.html - and when I cut them apart I used pinking shears just to see if it would be any different than using my pinking blade on the rotary cutter - it's not.

This is why I'm now sold on cutting everything using a pinking blade.

Be sure to double check as the pinking blades will only fit certain handles!

This sounds so great, thanks for showing us.

Interesting!! I have a pinking blade somewhere - will digit out and give it a shot. Thanks for the information.

Well, I've never had a pinking shears that worked decent. I'm willing to give this a try. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks a lot for explaining. I'll give it a try.

Looks like a great idea, I will have to give it a try, especially for the borders.

I want one! Next trip to JoAnn's, it's on my wish list.

I figured I would have to purchase the whole assembly, but I'm encouraged that it might fit what I have (I think it's an olfa handle). Haven't found one yet, but haven't made it to JoAnns yet to see if they have one.

Aren't they great? I have one too.

I believe I ordered the blade--Joanne--,but then found it needed the Olfa ergo handle. It tells you the model of handle you need.

Nice idea - I never thought of that.

I never thought of that. Your a prayer answered. I make a lot of applique and while I'm working on them they tend to unravel around the block edges. Thank You FayZ

:o good idea

I think I will try that. It sure looks neat.

Good idea. I have serged some of my grandkids quilts.

What a great tip! thanks! I have to get mine out.

Glad you guys found this useful. I'm using a regular Olfa cutter, and the pinking blade fit it no problem.

-Kate

Thank you for sharing. I would gladly give up all the strings and threads all over everywhere. I will have to try it.

So, the blade fit the regular 45mm cutter? I am thinking of buying one now. But I didn't want to buy another cutter because I have three already.

The next time I cut some fabric to make blocks I will take pictures and post them.

Do you buy the pinking blade and then add it to your old rotary cutter? Or do you have to buy a whole new handle too?
I have an olfa rotary cutter.

Zig Zag cutting, THANKS
 

I will have to give this a try. I really don't like all the threads all over my clothes and house. I use 4 room of the 5 that I have to make a quilt and I have two cats that like to cuddle in the fabric. I know they get the threads on their
fur and lick it off. Not good. SO I WILL HAVE TO TRY THE ZIG ZAG (Pinking) rotary blade.

THANKS a MILLION for sharing

LOWELL

Looks great from the wrong side, so should be really special from the front!

Debs

That looks wonderful. Those hanging threads on the back are the bane of my quilting life.

Yes, I just bought the blade and installed it in my existing cutter. Except that now I'm going to have to get another cutter to cut stuff that I don't want to be pinked, but that's not a big deal, and easier than switching all the time.

Thanks for the tip. Putting it on my list

I just bought a pinking blade and it does fit fine in the regular olfa 45mm cutter. If anyone wants to buy one, they are $16.99 at Joanns and only $11.99 at Michaels. Look for a coupon. They will let you use it for them.

Here are some pictures of fabric in various stages of sewing, cut using the pinking blade:

Picture 1: Fabric on the mat with the ruler ready to be cut.
Picture 2: Cutting fabric using the pinking blade. Note that the blade is right up against the ruler, in the same manner as it would be for a standard rotary blade.
Picture 3: Sewing pieces on the machine. Note that you can see the "teeth" made by the pinking balde in the blue and red pieces of fabric on the left, aligned with the 1/4" foot. The rightmost part (the outermost edge) of the "tooth" is what I align the foot to. Note that you will never get the teeth in the two pieces of fabic to match up when you sew them. That's fine, it makes no difference to the finished appearance of the quillt as this is inside your seam.
Picture 4: Pieces sewn and ready to cut.
Picture 5: Cutting sewn together pieces using the pinking blade.

See next post for 2 more photos.