There's More Than One Way To Skin A Cat...Uh, I Mean A Quilt

I did a post Thursday about how to rotary cut quilt squares. From some of the comments that were left and emails that were sent to me personally...I just wanted to clear up a few things, especially about the grain of the fabric.

This is how I cut my squares. I took one quilting class 15 years ago. I was the only person who signed up for the class, so I had a lot of one on one time with the quilt instructor. This is how she taught me. Is there another way to cut fabric squares or strips...you betcha!!! I'm sure there are Sew Many Ways to cut fabric! (sorry, couldn't resist) There are probably more ways than we can think of. However, at the end of the day, our fabric is cut, sewed together and we all have a beautiful quilt to keep or give away.

I quilt for my family or for gifts...mostly baby gifts. The people who receive my quilts have no clue what the grain of the fabric is. All they see is something made from the heart and I hope something beautiful.

Is the grain of fabric important? Maybe to some, but not me. I always cut yardage the way I showed in the tutorial, which is pretty close to cutting on the grain...I know not precise, but that's ok for me. I will probably never enter a quilt in a quilt show...never have enough confidence for that! I love scrap quilts and using up bits and pieces. Do I have the time to figure out the "exact" grain of the fabric on a piece of scrap material? Nope. I just want to sew and get that top finished.

My mind goes back to the past and how women would cut up feed sacks to make those gorgeous 1930's quilts or how they cut up worn out clothing to make the best scrap quilts ever. Were they thinking about the grain of the fabric? I think I was born in the wrong time period.

My thoughts also go to Bonnie Hunter from Quiltville.com who is the scrap quilt queen in my eyes. She uses everything from shirts she finds in thrift stores to scraps that are sent to her from other quilters. I just love her scrap quilts! She is such an inspiration.

When it comes down to it, among the millions of quilters in this big world...professional to newbie...we are innately the same. Our destination in life is to create, sew and make something that speaks to the heart. We all just take a different path to get there.

Hope you have a wonderful day and can sneak some sewing time in there too,
~Karen~

How to Cut Fabric Squares with a Rotary Cutter...

Thought I would do a post on how to cut fabric squares with a rotary cutter and cutting mat.

Cotton fabric is usually 42"-45" inches wide. When you are ready to cut your fabric, fold it in half and match the edges of the selvedge. You would hold the fabric up to match the edges, but I pinned mine to the ironing board to take the picture.

See how flat the fabric is?

If your fabric has a little bow to it or a swag to one side, like in the picture below, that causes your fabric strips to have that wonky center. Just slide your fingers until the fabric straightens up.

Fold the fabric in half again...making sure you don't have that same swag in the fabric like below.

Once the fabric is folded and flat...iron the folds.

Now place on your cutting mat...

Line up the bottom, folded edge with a horizontal line on the mat.

Make sure the raw cut edges of the left side are past a line on the mat.

Make sure all four layers are past the line.

Top layers too.

To square up the edge, place your ruler on the line of the cutting mat.

Line up the ruler on the line of the mat below the fold.

and the top too.

Sometimes if there is enough fabric, I will match a horizontal line on the ruler with the line of the fabric too.

Hold your ruler in place and cut with your rotary cutter.

Peel away raw edges.

Keep fabric in place.

To cut the squares, place your quilt ruler at the fabric. I will be cutting 5 inch squares.

Match the vertical line on the clean cut edge of your first cut.

See the fabric in between the black lines...lined up with the black 5 inch line.

To keep the fabric square, line up the bottom line of the ruler with the folded edge of the fabric.

The fold is between the horizontal lines.

Hold your ruler in place and cut with rotary cutter. (My left hand would be holding the ruler, but I'm taking the picture)

Now you have one 5 inch strip of the folded fabric.

Take that 5 inch strip and turn it horizontal. Make sure both the raw edges and the folded edge are past a line on the mat. To make the most of your fabric, you can get 2 sets of 5 inch squares out of this strip, so you need 10 inches of fabric plus the little extra over the lines

Small amount of fabric past the line on the left...

Make sure all edges are over the line.

The folded edge is past the line on the left.

Now take your ruler and line it up with the line on the mat, just like your first cut that you made.

Cut the raw edge away.

To make the first set of 5 inch squares, take the ruler and line up the vertical line of the ruler and the horizontal line on the 5 inch mark. See my 2 fingers?

Cut with rotary cutter.

Tah Dah...but we're not done yet.

Slide the ruler over and cut your second set.

and trim off that little extra fabric of the folded edge.

Now you are officially done....8 squares at 5 inches each.                               

                                                     

                                     

If you are careful with your folding and raw edges, you can get 8 five inch squares out of each strip of fabric. Make sure every once in a while, as you are cutting down the length of your folded fabric, that your square it up with a clean edge again

One yard of fabric should yield 56 five inch squares.

Hope this helps,

~Karen~