New Tools: Rotary Cutter

Rotary cutters have been around for quite a while, but I associated them with quilters.  I've been cutting my fabrics with scissors.  Recently, I bought a rotary cutter and mat.  I've been trying them out with a variety of fabrics and patterns. 

Cutting stabilizer with the mat and cutter proved very easy.  Getting the stabilizer cut to the right length was a breeze.  I was working on a project that required lots of pieces of the stabilizer all the same size.  Cutting them on the mat made that a lot quicker.

I tried using the mat and cutter for cutting fleece.  There were lots of long, straight cuts and the cutter made short work of those.  The mat had to be moved to cut some pieces, because the pieces were bigger than the mat, but that's not a big deal.

I also used the cutter for denim.  It worked like a champ.  It handled even the curves on this part of jeans well.  (I also used it for cutting out shirts.  No problem with the curves there, either.)

I used the cutter and mat to trim the hems of jeans.  It went through even the seams with no problems and the mat made getting the trim even and to the right length easy.

My only question about the mat and cutter system at this point is why I didn't try this sooner!  There's a few tasks, like very detailed cutting, that still require scissors.  The cutter is easier and faster than scissors on many different fabric types, including some heavy duty ones.  Measuring with the mat, rather than a tape has some real advantages also.