Baffled by cutting mat

Mats are often not accurately gridded anyway. Use the measurements on your ruler to measure the size of the piece you are cutting: if you need a 4.5" strip, line up the 4.5" markings on your ruler with the clean cut eadge of your fabric (that will be to the left, under the ruler), then cut along the right hand side of the ruler.

I don't even know how the numbers on my mat are done :-)

HTH Hanne in DK

hey EP, not something i ever thought about. i have one old mat, pre lines/numbers and i have a new mat but havent used it but a couple of times since i got it. :( i know it has lines but no idea if there are also numbers, probly is, i just cant recall.

i am right handed too. with ruler on the left i trim the edge of the fabric, then turn it round and use ruler lines to measure from that clean edge to where i cut, so big part of fabric is on my right side.

those numbers probably read left to right cuz that is how we read words too, left to right. that said, no doubt the designer cuts like i do but i'd not use the numbers for measureing fabric, just as a guideline reference. could just be my way tho. j.

"Edna Pearl" wrote... I bought a new cutting mat the other day, larger than the one I already had, at a good discount. I am perplexed, however, by the fact that the inches count from left to right on all four edges of the mat. In order to count from right to left, which is my usual practice, I have to turn the mat so the inch numbers are upside down. Which is do-able, of course. But things like this just bother me and bother me until I can figure out a rationale.

I'm right-handed, I cut with my rotary cutter in my right hand and my left hand on the ruler, so I use the numbers on the righthand bottom edge of the mat to measure the size of the piece or strip I'm cutting. I thought that's how everybody I've ever seen in photos or videos position their fabric for cutting. Why would these numbers on the lower right edge be upside down on all four edges of the mat?

Now I'm going to drive somebody here nuts trying to explain this to me. Sorry :-)

ep

G'day EP. This topic opens up discussion on the practice of cutting/ measuring directly from the mat inch lines. If you keep doing this over time on the same lines, the line markings get deep cuts in them, despite the mat's self-healing properties. Many quilters suggest you square up the fabric using a large perspex cutting guide and use a second cutting rectangle where necessary. Alot of quilters actually use the plain reverse side of the mat for this reason. I have also heard of mats having an incorrect inch measurement, maybe just a tiny fraction of an inch out, which magnifies the error over the project being cut. (The print lines are often quite thick too.) For that reason alone, many prefer the accuracy of the perspex guides.

Cheers Bronnie

Most of my ,ats have centemeters on one sode and inches on the other. One os blank on the bacl. I tend to use that side and the ruler for quilt pieces. The lines on the mat are really only useful when cutting the first straight edge as I use then wo square up the fabric.

I understand the concern about the accuracy of the mat's measurements -- that's a concern with all measuring tools. I always check my measuring devices against one another if I'm going to use more than one ruler during a single project. The main thing is to use the same measure throughout an entire quilt. I like to use the mat for measuring because I can just plain

*see* it better than the numbers, lines, and dots on a clear or translucent ruler. The contrast of light and dark is better.

I avoid the problems of wearing by moving around within the mat for different cuts. I often put masking tape on the mat so I don't even have to look at the numbers -- I guess I could do the same thing with the clear ruler on top. It's just a matter of habit. But it's fun to change habits; I think I'll try marking the top ruler with masking tape for my next series of cuts. Working on six nearly identical quilts, as I am doing right now, means a lot of repitition of the same measurement, so it will be a good time to experiment.

Thanks all, ep

G'day EP. This topic opens up discussion on the practice of cutting/ measuring directly from the mat inch lines. If you keep doing this over time on the same lines, the line markings get deep cuts in them, despite the mat's self-healing properties. Many quilters suggest you square up the fabric using a large perspex cutting guide and use a second cutting rectangle where necessary. Alot of quilters actually use the plain reverse side of the mat for this reason. I have also heard of mats having an incorrect inch measurement, maybe just a tiny fraction of an inch out, which magnifies the error over the project being cut. (The print lines are often quite thick too.) For that reason alone, many prefer the accuracy of the perspex guides.

Cheers Bronnie

Mats are often not accurately gridded anyway. Use the measurements on your ruler to measure the size of the piece you are cutting: if you need a 4.5" strip, line up the 4.5" markings on your ruler with the clean cut eadge of your fabric (that will be to the left, under the ruler), then cut along the right hand side of the ruler.

I don't even know how the numbers on my mat are done :-)

HTH Hanne in DK

I don't exactly see straight. I'm okay for tossing hand grenades but need all the help I can get cutting. I use both the marks on the mat and the ruler. If they both line up, I figure that's as good as I'm going to get. I really don't pay any attention to the numbers on mat. There is a square ruler here that is numbered backwards and I can see how it could make you crazy. (crazier?) Polly

"Edna Pearl" I understand the concern about the accuracy of the mat's measurements --

I looked at both mine, one is an Olfa, the other is blue, Dritz I think. Both have all the numbers in the same way up regardless of side and are landscape with zero at the bottom left corner, so numbers go left to right and bottom to top.

It happens that in the locations I use them they are currently set up for me to stand or sit at the short side not the long side.

I have been known to cut some things using numbers, like binding strips, things I know don't have to be the best possible accuracy, but when I have, I haven't noticed any problem with the numbers, and I'm right handed like you.

I'm trying to think what I would do, I know I do look at the numbers sometimes not just gridlines, but I think I must only do it for larger numbers, for determining things like how many binding strips I can cut, so it doesn't really matter which way round the numbers are because I'm only looking at 2 of them.

I have the odd ruler where I think I'd prefer the numbers the other way around, but then I have some rulers that have them both ways and that can also lead to mistakes! Even though blocks often need to be squared up to something and a half, I find that for cutting most things, a ruler which is a whole number size works better, because if I rotate 180deg it the strongest lines don't shift from being on whole numbers to being on half numbers!

Cheers Anne

Easy fix - this is what I do - take a Sharpie marker and write the measurements going the other way on the other side of the mat. I never could understand why they were printed that way either. My new mat has the numbers the way they "should" be!

I know lots of people say never to use the lines on the mat. I like the lines on the mat to square up the fabric. I always check the mat to see if it agrees with my ruler. If it does I use it for measurements, if it doesn't, I use my ruler.

Donna in Idaho

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Polly, do you have astigmatism? I do and I can't see straight either!

Donna in Idaho

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This part is correct for right handers...

Rotary cutter in right hand Left hand on ruler

Now, excess fabric should go off to the right of you. The section you measure should be under (and protected from a wonky cut) by your ruler. You should be measuring with your ruler (with its thinner more accurate lines) rather than the mat. Large measurements may require two rulers to do.

marcella

I've always used he plain side of the mat first -- When I do turn it over to the gridded side, I only look at the numbers to 'eyeball' how much fabric i have left:)

rusty

Sounds like we do things the same way, Donna.

I think I can do fine without having to mark the numbers the "right" way, since I can just read them upside down.

The mat with this problem is my new Olfa mat. My old June Tailor mat has the numbers every which way; I can always find a right side for whichever way I want to cut. I particularly love my June Tailor "Quilt N Press" because it has a ruled cutting mat on one side, a ruled pad for pressing on the other, and it fits perfectly on the fold-out leaf of my antique SM cabinet, right next to my machine. All I have to do is swivel my SM chair a little and I can measure, cut, and press without getting up from my SM.

I got the large Olga mat so my June Tailor mat can live on my SM and the Olga can live on a big work table that I've cleared off to use exclusively for quilting. I need a mat on a table for the big cutting jobs, so with this new mat I don't have to move my June Tailor mat back and forth from the SM to the table.

Little by little, I am forming a workable sewing studio, without having to cover the dining table with quilting stuff all the time.

Thanks to everyone for your replies!

ep

Hmm... I've always had the fabric off to the left. Having it on the right will be a whole new experience!

--Heidi

No astigmatism. I wear one contact lens for up-close vision. It's sort of like wearing bifocal glasses on sideways. Getting used to it made me drunker than Cooter Brown for about 3 days. My eye doctor, who is less than charming said a 'woman my age' probably couldn't do this. That was 30 years ago. Polly

Howdy!

Amen! http://www.w> This part is correct for right handers...

Like almost everything else in qulting, there is more than one way of using a rotary cutter :-).

When a right handed person rotary cuts fabric, when it is to the right, they have to first straighten the fabric with a cut on the right and then turn the fabric over so that the fresh cut is on the left. I normally cut several layer of fabric, and find that flipping the fabric gets the straight edges misaligned and it can take a while to rearrange everything to my satisfaction. Therefore, I cut my fabric with the bulk of it to the left side.

I do use two rulers. The first ruler is on the right to measure the width to be cut. The 2nd ruler on the left, along which I cut after removing the first ruler. The 2nd ruler can be a narrow one, as I am not using it to measure anything.

Another advantage of this method is that sometimes I need to restraighten the fabric. With the fabric on the left I can easily do that without having to flip the fabric twice (from left to right for the straightening cut and from right to left to continue normal cutting).

The disadvantage is having to use two rulers, though I don't mind doing so. I readily learned to move the left (cutting) ruler gently against the right (measuring) ruler, so that the right (measuring) ruler does not get knocked out of position.

I use an Olfa mat and, for the most part, ignore the measurements along the bottom of the mat. I sometimes align fabric along a vertical line, whenever it makes sense to do so.

Bev > This part is correct for right handers...

While I do not use the lines on my mat to measure for cutting, I was curious as to whether my lines are accurate, and they appear to be. I do realize that is not always the case.

There was a "Simply Quilts" episode, on which a dark haired lady showed a speed cutting method that used the lines on her quilt mat. You can tell that my memory is failing me, in that I cannot remember any details - I cannot even remember the lady's name :-(. Perhaps someone else remembers that? At any rate, she could cut fabric for an entire quilt in a very short period of time!

Thanks, Bev in TX

I think it was Anita Grossman Solomon. Here's a link to her Simply Quilts episodes:

If you scroll down you can see the super size nine patch video. The pattern is also still up on Quiltmaker marcella