Two rulers Rule...

Nature's gift for the Ides of March

Spring is such a hopeful time...full of so much potential.  Enjoy it.

Marny here...one more technique to share.  This one might be helpful to some of you who experience difficulty with cutting for one reason or another.  

I became dependent of this two ruler method of cutting when the store needed kits for a monthly program.  The 200 kits cut every month had 3-5 fabrics in each.  That is a lot of cuts.   The cutting counter set aside for this project could only be used from right to left and was unapproachable from the other side.  Shifting the fabric around that many times was out of the question.  

Now I am totally dependent on the two ruler method.  A single ruler sometimes baffles me, after all I have used the two ruler method thousands and thousands of times.  I am not picky (stop your snickering) about which rulers to use.  Two 24" long rulers are the easiest.  Today I am using my trusty 8" wide Master Piece 45 and an 8 1/2" wide Creative Grid ruler.

Here are the steps to cutting with two rulers.  Some, of course, are just the same as cutting with one ruler.

First, you need to establish a clean edge.

Carefully line the ruler up along the fold or the bottom edge of your fabric.  Cut perpendicular to this along the right side of the ruler.  Now you have a nice, clean and straight edge to work from.

I place my first ruler on the fabric.  My four inch mark follows exactly along the fresh cut.  I want a four inch strip.  When I am happy with the accuracy, I carefully place the second ruler snugly against the left side of the first ruler.

I pull away the first ruler.  And proceed to cut along the right edge of the second ruler.

And there you have it, a four inch strip.  No walking around or rearranging the fabric is necessary.   You can get quite a rhythm going.  Occasionally the right edge needs to be cleaned up again as you work your way along the length of your fabric.

Hope this technique helps some of you.  I find it very efficient and accurate.  We encourage you to use whatever method works best for you.  But you might like to try the two rulers, or have it in the back of your mind when some cutting challenge presents itself.  It works.

Visit this website for Heart and Hand Dry Goods to see our trunk show displayed and to check out their upcoming events--including their celebration of National Quilting Day March 17th-20th.

Till Tuesday....