Cutting fabric - AcuQuilt vs ruler & rotary?
 

Just curious if anyone else is having the same ambivalence as me about your AcuQuilt dye cutter? I previously had the Go Me (or Go Baby depending on when it was purchased) but it was lost in a fire. I have now come into possession of my mother's Acu cutter after she went into long term care. Honestly, I haven't used her cutter yet. She had one of the larger models. I don't have the space to leave it set up permanently. And I've found that, by the time I would drag out the Acu, cut the fabric down to the appropriate size, and fold it to fit on the dye, I can just as easily fold and cut larger pieces using a large cutting mat, ruler (I have the large Stripology and multiple acrylics), and rotary cutter. I work mostly with squares, rectangles, and strips though, so other folks might like the Acu for the HST's, hexies, and other shapes.

I am currently in the process of decluttering and reorganizing my little 920 sq ft cottage in the hopes I can dedicate an entire room to quilting. Maybe if I get to that point, I can leave the AcuQuilt set up permanently and it will be more useful. For now I'm perfectly content with my mat/rulers/rotary.

That's one of the main reasons I've never purchased a cutter. While I have large sewing areas, I also have a lot of machines and equipment. I'd have to put something away or get rid of it and I don't want to do that. So for now at least, I'm just using my rotary cutter and rulers.

I have the very large, very heavy AccuQuilt Studio 2. I purchased only strip dies, in all sizes. I have the Studio permanently set up on one end of my cutting table, which consists of a solid core 36" door balanced on two short bookshelves. The dies are stored in the bookshelf at that end of the table. I realize this setup wouldn't work for everyone, but it works very well for me. I use the AccuQuilt a lot and am glad I purchased it before the prices went up so high. Of course I also cut with a rotary cutter when that makes more sense.

When I bought my AccuQuilt over a decade ago I bought so many of the dies to go with it and never used any of them. I have since downsized to just 12 specialty dies and I store it until I need it since it does take up a lot of space opened up.

My thought are that you waste so much fabric cutting into whatever size you need. Maybe if I saw one in action, I'd change my mind but for now, I'd rather use my stripology ruler and whatever other ruler needed to cut my fabrics. I have way too much scraps as it is anyway.

I could never justify the price of the AccuQuilt machine and then have to buy the dyes individually....to this cheap old woman (74) that was just insane and still is. I bought many cutting rulers/templates back when they were so much cheaper and someone always has blades on sale at a good price. I whip out a charity quilt about every 8 or 9 days so I must be doing something right.

Our local hospital has a sewing/quilting area. Volunteers make 40x57 quilts here which are offered to patients in cancer treatment. Someone donated an Accuquilt cutter and about a “million” dies to the program. I went to the demonstration and decided it’s not for me. Nobody uses it. At home, I’m good with my large cutting mat and stripology ruler.

My Accuquilt is a very important tool for me. I use my Accuquilt for 95% of all my cutting so I keep it set up on a L shape desk arrangement. When I had a small sewing room, it was still given room to be set up all the time, on a smaller table with dies underneath. I have the manual large Go and the smaller Go Me. I keep the Go Me on my cutting table to cut leftover fabric into useable shapes. I have all the Stripologoly ruler and rarely use it. I agree the cutter needs to be out and ready to use to be get the most use out of it.

If you are unable to rotary cut for disability reasons, the Accuquilt is a Godsend. I have the GO Big electric. It's heavy, so a dedicated table is a must.

Im with Joe’s Mom… after a hand injury, my Accuquilt cutter saves a lot of wear and tear on my hand for repetitive cutting. I do a LOT of scrap quilts that use the same shapes. Yes, once in a while my rulers still rule but at least that cutting is not the majority of what i need these days.

Space is a consideration too.. i got the smaller AQ Bolt electric and leave it out all the time. I wore out two AQ GO ME cutters 🫣 cuz i used them so much and was able to leave them out due to their smaller size. I dont think they were meant for long term/dedicated use.

i do have a larger GO cutter… but its not electric and its big so i dont leave it out. Consequently it doesnt get a lot of use.