How to cut stretchy materials?

I cut _everything_ with my rotary cutter, and what got me started doing that was the very thing you mention, cutting out cotton knits to make baby things for my first granddaughter. Once you become accustomed to it, rotary cutting is SO much faster. I don't even pin patterns to the fabric anymore, just use weights (large size metal washers bought at a hardware store, two or three glued together, work well and are much cheaper than pattern weights).

The only drawback I've found is that commercial paper patterns need to be trimmed beforehand. But most garments I sew are traced from multisized patterns, which eliminates that problem.

Doreen in Alabama

Thanks....I may just break down and get one.

I don't think you'll ever regret it. No less an expert than David Coffin recommends rotary cutting! But be aware that you'll also need a self-healing cutting mat, the larger the better. And it's good to have both the 45mm and 28mm size rotary cutters...it's easier to cut curves like necklines and armholes with the smaller one. Altogether it can be a sizeable investment. Sometimes you're lucky enough to find a sale.

If you happen to know a quilter, you probably could get a hands on demonstration.

Doreen in Alabama

In article , Doreen of EarthLink Inc. --

uttered>I don't think you'll ever regret it. No less an expert than David >Coffin recommends rotary cutting! But be aware that you'll also need a >self-healing cutting mat, the larger the better. And it's good to have >both the 45mm and 28mm size rotary cutters...it's easier to cut curves >like necklines and armholes with the smaller one. Altogether it can be >a sizeable investment. Sometimes you're lucky enough to find a sale.>How do you go on when cutting out long pieces? I'm curious, as I regularly cut out full-length (as in nape-to-floor) adult patterns, but my cutting table isn't that long, so I have to resort to the floor and/ or shifting the fabric as the pieces are laid on. Also, what happens when the garment lay is any great length? How do you dovetail pieces etc to get the most economical use of the fabric?

I have two large cutting mats that together cover my 6 foot table. I kind of halfway place pattern pieces up and down the fabric, scrootching it around to make sure there's enough to go 'round, before the final layout and cutting. The dovetailing can be more complicated, I grant you, especially since the table is only 30 inches wide...I hate having anything slinky or stretchy hanging off while I cut a single layer!

Still it gives me the best results...since the fabric isn't lifted off the table by scissors, I get a perfectly clean, accurate cutting line. It may be o/c, but that's important to me. Gad, I volunteered to sew up a simple little child's dress for a friend, who had cut it out but chickened out of actually sewing it. The edges were so wavy and jagged I had to recut every piece.

Doreen in Alabama

Several things I find helpful:

Cut on a slightly matte surface so that the fabric does not slide about

Make sure that the whole width and length of the fabric are supported: if you have bits dangling off the table, it will stretch. If the fabric is too wide and too long, fold the bits you are not yet cutting up onto spare surface.

Keep the lower blade of the scissors as close to the table as possible: Slide them along the table with the whole length of the blade ON the table when you make the cut (this is why dressmakers and tailors sheers are side bent at such an angle)

Use as large a pair of scissors as you can manipulate accurately and comfortably, and cut the whole length of the blade rather than making short snips

Use as few pins as possible, or try weighting the pattern down: use cans of tuna/beans, jars of pickles... Whatever! No need to buy fancy weights! Just ensure the outsides are clean!)

Don't rush!

I have a bed in the sewing room, so I put a card cutting mat on the bed. Then I kneel on the floor...

When we get the new conservatory done, provision will be made for setting up a large cutting area when I need one.

G'day Augustus

I use a rotary cutter with cutting mat too and although I have both sizes I mostly use the 45mm one these days, but did use both until I got used to the larger one. You will soon get used to cutting curves with the larger blade.....again no pins, weigh down with whatever is close at hand, preferably on a large cutting table (if available).

I agree they can be expensive but you will often find them on eBay for a really good price and just recently I found an A2 cutting mat at the local $2 shop for Au$9.95 when they sell in craft/sewing shops for around Au$60-70. If you need to cut lots of straight lines then a quilter's rule (4mm) thick comes in handy.

Bronwyn ;-)

Doreen wrote:

I wish I understood what I'm doing wrong but when I try to use a rotary cutter I find that it didn't go all the way through in all places and I have to go back and do it again. I'm pressing as hard as I can, which makes control pretty tough. Did I just get a bad cutter? I got the small size because I'm usually working with doll clothes but maybe it's not strong enough to go through two layers or thicker fabrics? I've given up on using mine but if anyone can tell me what I'm doing wrong I'll try again.

Dawn

A cutter with a sharp blade (new, or at least not overly used) should not be giving you this problem. When I'm cutting quilt pieces, mine easily goes through 6 or more layers without my applying a lot of pressure...which is a good thing, since my wrists give me trouble if I bear down too hard...and two layers of dress fabrics are a cinch.

Do you know anyone who regularly uses a r.c. who could check yours out for you? Or if you bought it at a shop that also sells fabric (as opposed to over the internet, or from a shop where the sales people might be clueless) could you go in and ask a clerk to test it?

Sorry you are having the frustration!

Doreen in Alabama

In article , Kate Dicey of Customer of PlusNet plc

uttered>>I have a bed in the sewing room, so I put a card cutting mat on the >bed. Then I kneel on the floor... That's what I have to resort to at times (but my bed, no spare). Martyn is at times unimpressed with the appearance of stray pins - I don't know why they always turn up on *his* side, 3 days after I cut whatever it was out ...

An A2 cutting mat wouldn't quite suffice, either.

I've got the use of someone else's cutting table if desperate, but it's

4 miles away and there's absolutely nowhere to park

Cut on paper. Connie Crawford taught me this trick, and it's amazing what it does for accuracy. Ask your library to get you a copy of her article in Threads magazine, issue 97, pp. 72-75, "On laying out and cutting accurately". Connie typically uses lightweight kraft (brown wrapping paper); I use an endroll of newsprint I got from the local newspaper. Also keeps ravelly fabrics from unraveling and pieces from stretching from handling before you can stay stitch.

Also, when you cut with scissors, you want "bent handled shears"... they're the ones that have the handles cocked off to one side. Keep the bottom blade flat on the table when you're cutting; don't hold the fabric up in the air to cut.

Kay Lancaster snipped-for-privacy@fern.com

G'day Dawn

Is the blade sharp? When mine doesn't cut all the way through, or has gaps in the cutting line, it always indicates a fresh blade is needed. When doing patchwork I've cut 10-12 thicknesses of fabric, but admit with that many layers I have to stand over the table and press quite firm......not hard to do though.

Hope this helps? Bronwyn ;-)

Dawn Alguard wrote:

I lay cotton jersey out on the living-room floor, folded in half. I pat and pull until it is square, with the edges even, and absolutely relaxed. (If your carpet is grabby, it may be necessary to put down a plastic drop cloth first.) Then I baste all around the edges to prevent curling -- one edge trying to curl up prevents the other edge from curling down, and visa-versa. Basting is actually quicker than pinning, because I don't put the stitches any closer together than pins, and I don't have to take them out again

-- unless a stitch or two ends up in a cut-out piece.

It will probably be easier to baste the edges if you do it before washing, as new fabric is apt to have sizing in it that prevents the snap-into-teeny-tubes effect.

Then I spray it with starch until evenly damp. I have a spray bottle I bought at a hardware store, meant for mixing up poisons, that has measurements and dilution percentages marked right on the bottle, so I can just pour starch and water in without measuring. (Eyeballing the proportions is good enough, if your bottle isn't marked.)

After an hour or two, I turn it over and spray the other side, then let it dry overnight. After this treatment, jersey behaves just like interlock, and is very easy to sew.

Since even 40% of polyester suffocates me, I haven't the foggiest idea whether this trick will work with synthetics.

Joy Beeson

In article , Kay Lancaster of

uttered>>Cut on paper. Connie Crawford taught me this trick, and it's amazing >what it does for accuracy. Ask your library to get you a copy of her >article in Threads magazine, issue 97, pp. 72-75, "On laying out and >cutting accurately". Connie typically uses lightweight kraft (brown >wrapping paper); I use an endroll of newsprint I got from the local >newspaper. Also keeps ravelly fabrics from unraveling and pieces from >stretching from handling before you can stay stitch.>

OTOH, cut paper with *my* sewing shears and you are dead meat.

Preezackly! Minced to the most microscopic sized bits, and yer hide nailed to the door as an awful warning! ;P

I dunno what this love of cutting out on paper is - never worked for me, and blunts scissors like nobodies business. I find it easier to cut silk chiffon, bias slinky stuff, knits - all the okkard stuff! - on the plastic table cloth: slightly matte so the fabric doesn't slip, smooth enough to glide the scissors over, protects my antique dining table from the scissors. Voi la - trouble free cutting!

Yes, thank you both. I looked last night and it seems that my blade has a missing/warped spot. It must have come like that because it never has cut properly but I see now that everytime that piece of the blade comes around it doesn't cut through that section.

I didn't realize you could swap out the blades. Perhaps the solution is just that simple.

Dawn

So, you lay paper down and cut through it while cutting through the fabric? I'll have to try that.

A

In article , Angrie.Woman of SBC

uttered>>So, you lay paper down and cut through it while cutting through the >fabric? I'll have to try that.>

And then take your scissors to be sharpened.