This is showing you how I cut strips from fabric. It does not mean you have to do it this way, I am only showing what works for me. You may have a different way of cutting and that is fine, I don't profess to be right, I try to help that's all.
OK here we go...
You know when you buy fabric it sometimes gets torn instead of cut straight with a rotary cutter, this is what it looks like, it is skewed at the top can you see, click on the picture...
A closer picture for you....all pictures taken by my GD Rebecca, some are at a strange angle!!!!! Sorry.
Even closer, now you can see the discrepancy....
Get hold of the fabric and jiggle the edges until the selvages are together in a perfect !!! straight line, now you can quite clearly see the discrepancy...
You are now ready to cut it, use the full length of your longest ruler to do this...
Spot the deliberate mistake????? Hand is wrong......Why you ask????
Correct hand position...dodgy photo, see next one...
Look at my fingers...THREE on the ruler TWO off, it is for stability, this is how I was taught to use the ruler and cutter and I find it works for me, if your whole hand is on the ruler, it will slip...
Strip has been cut with a rotary cutter with a sharp blade...
See, nice and straight in the middle...
I did it again but deliberately did this for you to see what to do when this happens...
The dreaded Vee, can you see the difference...
The rotary cutter is laying at the middle of the fabric for you to see the Vee...
Take your longest ruler and lay it so the ruler edge lays along the straight parts of the fabric, the VEE bit will stick out, can you see what I mean?
14..
Cut this piece off, your fabric is now straight and you can go and cut your strips or whatever...
15..
Just like this, it is a 2 1/2" strip, just as a tester for you...
16..
There you go that is the middle showing and it is nice and straight.
17..
I would suggest that after every 4 - 5 strips you cut, you re-align the fabric from the beginning to make sure you do not have that dreaded VEE. Then resume cutting.
18..
If you have washed your fabric and find the selvage has gone all shrunken on you, all you have to do is snip into it every 3 - 4" and continue as above from 1.. onwards.
As I said, this works for me, I have cut several layers at once, up to 16 layers when doing Log Cabins, cos it gets really boring cutting the same thing over and over. Nowadays though I tend to limit myself up to 8 layers, my wrists do not have the strength to hold a higher amount steady anymore. I hope you have found it useful.
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