[Nfb-krafters-korner] Cutting question

[Blindhands at aol.com]

There  are 2suggestions and I have used both.
 
You can purchase a 4 inche templet from a quilting shop or go to Keepsake  
Quilting website.  They are made out of a hard thick plastic and you can  
rotary  cut using this.  You will need to get a cutting board and a  rotarry 
cutter.  
 
You will need the rotary cutter and the cutting board for this other one  
and I would be lost without it.  It is a thick plastic guide and I have and  
use the most the larger one.  It is hmmmm top to bottom maybe 18 inches and  
side to side around 22 inches.  It has 2 inches on each side going top to  
bottom and then it has every half inche a slit that the blade of your rotary 
 wheel fits into.  You line up the edge of this guide to the edge of your  
cutting mat .  I usially take a 12 inche square template and fold my fabric  
with salvages even and press it to even up the fold , then fold it in half 
and  press again so I have 4 layers and everything is even.  With the 12 
inche  square template I line it up  to the bottom of the edges and fold and 
cut  the first going top to bottom.  This will give me that first straight cut 
 edge.  Then I line that edge I just cut up to the side edge of the cutting 
 board .  I then put the edge of the guide and match up and make sure  
everything is even to the edge of the cutting board.  You also should be  sure 
that where the cutting slots are includes the top and the bottom edges of  
your fabric.  That is why I keep it folded in 4 layers.     This takes a 
little time and fudging with but it is worth it.  So now you  have a 2 inche from 
the edge of your guide.  Feel and count so you will  have a total of 4 
inches.  The most common size strips I have cut I have  placed a piece of 
masking tape along the bottom to help me find it and not have  to count every 
time.    Fit your rotary wheel into the slot of  the 4 inches and press down 
hard holding the guide down tight.  I am always  feeling the bottom right 
corner of the cutting board to be sure everything is  lined up.  Now cut your 4 
inche strip.  You can move to 8 inches and  12 etc.  Remember once you pick 
it up or move the top guide you have to go  thru all the lining up again.  So 
now you have a 4 inche strip.  There  are a lot of strip quilt patterns and 
I have a wonderful trick how to do half  square triangles, but back to the 
4 inche square.  
 
You need to take the 4 inche strip and use your guide to cut it into 4  
inche SQUARES.    You should line up your salveges and cut them  off first.  I 
usually take and cut 4 1/2  first and turn it around and  trim that 1/2 
inche off then cut the rest 4 inches.  I do keep the strip  folded in half at 
this point.  As 4 inches does not go even into your 45 or  whatever width 
fabric you are cutting.
 
Warning:  Be careful of the rotary cutter.  Use the one that has  the 
guard.  Keep your fingers out of the way of the blade.  You can do  all of this 
without sight.  I have done it and I have no light  perception.
 
Joyce  Kane
_www.KraftersKorner.org_ (http://www.krafterskorner.org/) 
Blindhands at AOL.com   

 
In a message dated 9/1/2011 1:20:38 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
nkhutch86 at gmail.com writes:

Hello  All,
Can anyone offer me any suggestions for cutting 4 inch squares when  
quilting? I was going to try to measure and cut, but I wanted to see if there  
were any better ideas before I  started.

Blessings,
Nicole
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