How to Use Cloth Strip Cutting Tools

Cloth strip cutting tools are best for cutting straight lines.

Without cloth strip cutting tools, cutting out fabric is the most tedious part of making a quilt. To cut applique shapes or geometrics, the quilter has to pin the pattern to the fabric, cut the fabric with scissors, being careful to cut the piece properly, and unpin the pattern pieces. However, a quilter making a pattern that uses cloth strips, like the log cabin quilt pattern, can use cloth strip cutting tools to cut dozens of cloth strips in a matter of minutes.

Things You'll Need

• Rotary cutter
• Cutting mat
• Clear plastic ruler
• Fabric

Instructions

1. Fold the preshrunk quilting fabric with wrong sides and selvage edges together. Place the fabric on the cutting mat. The purpose of the mat is to protect the surface underneath it and to keep the blade on the rotary cutter as sharp as possible. Many cutting mats have grids marked on the surface to make it easier to align the fabric on the mat. Smooth out any folds so that the fabric lies flat.

2. Position the clear quilting ruler on the fabric so the cutting edge of the ruler is one strip's width away from the selvage edges. For example, if your pattern calls for 2-inch-wide cloth strips and your ruler is 5 inches wide, position the ruler so that 2 inches of the ruler overlap the cloth, and the remaining three inches of the ruler are off the edge of the cloth. Use the quilting ruler as a cutting guide.

3. Remove the cutting guard from the rotary cutter, and roll the cutter against the cutting edge of the ruler, exerting enough pressure to penetrate both layers of fabric.

References

• PBS: Quilts