If you’re anything like me, you can get pretty frustrated by how long it takes to cut fabric for all the pieces of a quilt. What I find to be helpful in this quest to finish a quilt in less time is having a few rotary cutters on hand to speed the process up. If you think that your trusty pair of scissors is enough, I bet you haven’t tried using one because I don’t think you’ll ever go back to using only a pair of scissors. You will fall in love with your rotary cutter and discover that it really does save time and energy and give you a straight and even cut. To get the most out of your rotary cutter, you need a few other accessories and to know what to look for when buying one.
Though you may have been able to cut with your scissors without the use of a table (or freehand, as some call it), this won’t be the case with a rotary cutter. You will need a relatively large, flat surface. You will also need a cutting mat to protect that surface. And for an optimally straight cut, I recommend highly getting a guide ruler. Few people can make a truly straight cutting line without the use of a guide ruler.
As for what else you’ll need, you need to think about what kind of quilting you do. If you work with varying fabric thicknesses, you’ll want to get a few rotary cutters, all with different blade widths. If your fabric pieces tend to have a large range from tiny pieces to large shapes, look for rotary cutters with small diameter blades for the tiny pieces and large diameter blades for the large fabric shapes of your quilts.
My last piece of advice is to buy rotary cutters which have retractable blades. These blades should be very sharp and can injure you if they inadvertently fall with the blade exposed. Having a retractable blade will protect you, your quilt, and the furniture around you.
