Rotary cutter techniques?

I tried out my rotary cutter yesterday, I bought it years ago, but never used it. I recently bought a mat to use it with. Anyway, I needed to cut some very straight strips of ultrasuede, and my experience was dismal, at best. I positioned the cutter against a metal yardstick, and I rolled the cutter back and forth, and ended up with a ragged cut. Finally, I cut out the ultrasuede with scissors. Can someone give me some tips to properly using a rotary cutter? Cheryl

Reply to
Cheryl
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you need a thicker acrylic ruler to cut with as the metal one isn't thick enough to keep the cutting line straight (and will help avoid cut fingers!)

and you need to cut in one smooth line - no sawing as that will, as you noticed, maul the fabric so cut a long line in one smooth cut pressing down just enough to cut straight through in one go

you also need to press down on the ruler to make sure it doesn't shift as shifting rulers also mess up a cut

hth

Reply to
Jessamy

"Cheryl" scribbled while perusing news: snipped-for-privacy@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com:

I wrote instructions for using a rotatary cutter some time ago on SewingWeb.com:

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you can use the longer one
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Reply to
Donna

When doing thick or slippery stuff I use a Craftsman clamp to hold down one end of the ruler to the table. No slipping at all.

Then, cut in one smooth slice,...no dicing :)

-Irene

-------------- You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.=20

--Mae West=20

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Reply to
IMS

I'm happy you posted your lesson on rotary cutters, Donna, since I have not used mine in such a long time and I need to read it for a refresher course. Emily

Reply to
CypSew

What do you do when the fabric is bigger than the mat?

Reply to
Angrie.Woman

You use a big mat. Mine is 40" x 72". Before the Megamats were readily available, I moved my Olfa mat around underneath the cloth unless the pieces were too large forcing me to use scissors.

Reply to
Phaedrine

If you are cutting straight lines, then fold the fabric....BUT make absolutely sure it's folded correctly or the strip of fabric you are cutting will have a wavy edge. Practice on some scrap fabric. With a sharp blade I've cut 10-12 thicknesses of cotton quilt fabric and that was with the 25mm (1 inch) cutter.

I bought my first rotary cutter and mat when they were first released in

1997 and bought another larger cutter that was Olfa's Silver Anniversary model that is coloured silver and came with a 25Yr commemorative pin.

I've always found that to use a rotary cutter successfully you need a thick acrylic straight edge (as has already been mentioned) but also stand with your right shoulder (assuming you are right handed) positioned forward and 'over' the table where you are cutting and hold your arm higher than you would when using scissors. This just takes practice and gives more control over the cutter.

Br> D>

Reply to
HC

Two more considerations:

The "safety guard" is there to protect the edge, not your fingers. If you push on the cutter hard enough to do serious damage, the guard will slide back without even token resistance. (And if some models do resist, it only means the cut will be deeper when they let go.) Treat the cutter as a sharp object even when the safety is on. And never put it down without engaging the safety.

No matter how sharp your cutter is, it will try to push the fabric away from itself, which builds up to a ripple preceding the cutter and, eventually, a jag when the cutter finally flattens and rolls over the ripple. Firmly pressing something flat -- usually a ruler or a draftsman's triangle -- not too far from the cutting line will force the fabric to hold still and get cut, allowing you to take long strokes without making waves.

It *should* cut on the first pass. Sometimes you have to make touch-up cuts, but never roll back and forth as if it were a pizza cutter. (I don't use my pizza cutter, come to think of it. It's much easier to hold the pizza down with a fork and use a carbon-steel knife.)

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My sewing style means that I rarely cut straight lines except along drawn threads. On the rare occasions that I use a ruler, I use it to draw lines on the fabric and then cut along the lines, so I can't give you advice on cutting with a ruler.

When I cut along a drawn thread, I get out my smaller cutting mat and cut the lines by drawing the cutter toward myself while holding the back of the fabric to keep it from moving. Since I can see only half a foot or so of drawn thread at time, I have to cut in short stretches anyway.

(Or do I cut away from myself? I'll have to watch me doing it sometime. At any rate, I hold the fabric on the side the cutter is moving away from.)

Joy Beeson

Reply to
Joy Beeson

"Angrie.Woman" scribbled while perusing news:fWN3h.3148$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net:

I have a much bigger mat now. That one was on its last leg when I took those pictures.

Reply to
Donna

I bought a pretty good sized one because people here told me to. :) - It's bigger than most of my things. I had a bit of difficulty while making a very long pillowcase recently though. I ended up going back to scissors.

Reply to
Angrie.Woman

I lied. This morning I went through my black broadcloth scraps looking for a patch for the knee of my jeans, and found one just the right size and shape, but one edge was irregular and the selvage had been snipped in several places. I couldn't draw a thread because the threads were too feeble -- a bad sign with respect to durability, but just right for sewing to very thin fabric that will soon give way elsewhere. I didn't want to tear because that would have removed too much fabric.

So I grabbed the nearest brass-edge ruler, the smaller cutter, and the smaller mat. The thin-ness of the ruler did not cause me the slightest difficulty -- perhaps because I'm accustomed to visual cues when cutting, and didn't attempt to get any tactile feedback.

(But if I didn't have any trouble, I guess that means that I still don't have anything useful to say.)

Joy Beeson

Reply to
Joy Beeson

Move the mat around under the fabric. This works only when using pins rather than weights -- or when the pattern is marked directly on the fabric.

If there are any edges of the mat that you can't see, feel for them before each and every stroke.

Joy Beeson

Reply to
Joy Beeson

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