Cutting timesaver

At the quilt shop on Monday I was hard at work cutting Swoon blocks.  Of course I was using the Shape Cut ruler to cut.  A couple of veteran quilters were watching and asked for a demo of the ruler.  I’m always amazed at the number of quilters who are not familiar with this ruler—or even worse—own it but don’t use it.  This one tool saves me hundreds of cutting hours each year.  It makes cutting strips, squares and rectangles so fast it’s ridiculous.  If you’re not familiar with this ruler it’s by June Tailor and comes in a 12” length and 18” length.  I own both and use them both depending on what kind of cutting I’m doing.  Both have slots every half inch along the length of the ruler.  To cut, you simply slip your rotary cutter blade in the slot.  The beauty of the ruler is that you can make multiple cuts without lifting the ruler. Here’s a quick example of how great this ruler works.  I have plans to make five quilts from this beautiful stack of fat quarters.  It’s the Coquette line by Chez Moi for Moda.

I'm cutting one ten inch strip and three 2-1/2” strips from each fat quarter.  I’ll sub-cut these strips later.  After pressing the fat quarter, I fold it in half once (selvage at the bottom).  Place the ruler on top of the fat quarter.

Make sure the 12” horizontal line on the ruler is even with the fold of your fabric.  To square up the fabric, make the first cut in the “0” slot.  Without moving the ruler, make the second cut in the 10” slot.  Again, keep the ruler in place and make cuts at 12-1/2”, 15” and 17-1/2”.  It just takes seconds to make the five cuts necessary for the required four strips.

See how slick that is?  There is a little sliver of fabric on the left hand side from squaring up and about 1/2” left over on the right side.  I just love using this ruler and it took no time at all to breeze through my 36 fat quarters.  In the next few days I’ll show you the quilts I’m making with this fabric.