Most quilters who cut their fabric with a rotary cutter have rulers that they love - well, rulers they use a lot, anyway.
Which ruler I reach for depends on what I'm cutting. For example, if I'm cutting 2 1/2" wide strips, I usually reach for my ruler that is 18" long and 3" wide.
If I'm cutting wider strips, and just strips, no triangles, I generally use my 24" by 6" ruler.
If the strips are already cut, and I'm just cutting bunches of triangles, I have special triangle templates for cutting them.
And when I am cutting strips and then cutting triangles from each strip, I reach for this All-in-One ruler.
Although it looks confusing, once you focus in on just one part, it's really quite convenient and easy to use.
It can guide you through strips, triangles, and squares - probably other shapes, too, but I haven't checked those out.
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Every time I go into my local quilt shop, I have to take a look at the rulers and see what is new. I’ve been pretty happy with my selection of rotary cutting rulers, but when I saw this one, I had to try it. But for starters, in addition to strips, you can cut both half-square triangles and quarter-square triangles from your strips. There has been an ongoing discussion among quilters about how wide to cut strips when you are making half-square triangles from the strips. The thought originally was to add 7/8 inch to the finished size. |
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Much by accident, I’m sure, many quilters discovered that you can get just as perfect half-square triangles by adding only 1/2 inch – especially when you trim the tips to make the triangles match up better when you sew. To use this ruler for cutting half-square triangles, you just line it up on your strip and cut: |
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Then flip the ruler over, line it up again and cut. |
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This is really ok, because to get your triangles to line up for sewing better, use the tip of the ruler to trim the tips off on both ends: |
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And notice how much better the triangles line up when you get ready to sew. This saves fabric and time. Each strip cut is 1/8 inch narrower, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you are cutting 8 strips, you’ve just added an inch. Plus, it is easier to line your triangles up to sew them. |
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Happy Quilting!
Penny Halgren
Master Quilter
