sewingpup

The GO works best for me when I have multiples of the same shape to cut from the same fabric . What I have done is buy a fair number of the dies that make muliples of the same shape. For example my 21/2 inch unfinished die has 9 squares on it. So I have marked with a marker 1/4 inch out from all sides of those shapes. The cutting part on this die is 7.5 inches and when I marked that 1/4 of an inch it brings the marked area to 8 X 8 This is the size I cut my fabric. I can now layer up to six layers of 8 X 8 inch squares of fabric on this die. That will give me 9 X 6 = 36 2.5 inch squares cut with one pass. It goes pretty well and there really isn't that much waste. I find I can skimp on the 1/4 inch allowance but I find I get a cleaner gut with that 1/4 inch extra. I usually also only layer 4 fabrics which gives me 9 X 4 or 24 squares with one pass. It is easier to turn the crank and I get a bit more accurate cuts as sometimes when I use 6 layers, they will slide a bit. Hope this hint helps. I really don't like the cubes very much because they only usually have one or two shapes on the sides.

Oh and on the mysteries, I usually look at the total number of shapes needed, then look at the number of different fabrics, divide the total by that number and then cut the number of each I need to get the total. If I have smaller scraps, I just cut them first and then start on the bigger scraps. I do layer smaller scraps too and I have sometimes marked additional lines that go all the way to the edge of the die so I know that scrap will cover how many individual cuts they will make.