Not sure what yardage you need if it's not listed on your pattern? Here's a fabric conversion chart for your convenience!

Choosing the right rotary cutter for the job

Ever get frustrated trying to use your favorite rotary cutter for quilting on your garment projects or vice versa? I have heard the comment many times that they'd love to use their cutters for a blouse but they can't get around the curves on the pattern. I've also heard many a comment about how frustrated they are with the amount of pressure they have to exert to get through all of the layers. The simplest solution is to use the right size cutter for the job! A quick list of factors to consider when choosing what cutter to use are: 1) thickness of what you are cutting, 2) how tight are the curves on the shapes you are cutting, 3) how tightly you need to fit all of your pieces together on the fabric and 4) how much overbite space do you have on the corners with that layout.

An overbite is how much more the top layer of fabric is cut than the bottom layer. Since you are working with a circular blade, the top layer(s) of fabric are coming into contact with the cutting edge of the blade sooner than the bottom layers. (See diagram below)

The 60mm cutters are perfect for bulky thick fabrics. They reduce your hand fatigue and pressure required but do not turn well in smaller curves. These are best used on polar fleece and quantity bulk cutting with lots of layers and minimal curves (think strip quilting). However, you do need to plan overbite space on the corners of about 3/8" to 1/2".

45mm cutters offer the same capabilities but for less layers or bulk. They do manage curves such as dropped armholes, crotch shapes ad larger collar areas. These are great for a couple layers of denim or single layers of fleece. There is about a 1/4" overbite that you have to allow for on corners. This is the size I use the most for quilting or cutting out bottom garments.

By far, the 28mm is my favorite cutter - small enough to cut out inside curves but large enough to slice through 2 layers of wool flannel with no problems. It's also light in the hand and smaller so easier to handle. The smaller blade creates less of an overbite in the fabric so I can lay my pieces together a lot tighter.

Although the smallest, the 18mm cutter is, by far, the most nimble of the cutters and has the smallest overbite. The downside of this size is that you are very limited in the thickness of fabric it will cut through and it takes forever to cut out large pieces. HOWEVER - its perfect to use with the 28mm & 45mm cutters to get that last little bit on the inside curves or to cut your notches (I use slits instead of the traditional "V" cut - more precise). It's also perfect for cutting out the odd shaped templates for quilting and appliqueing. Need to cut out the pattern or a paper tracing? This is the perfect tool for it and FAST!

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Plush Cat Designs, LLC.
7056 Archibald Street #102-117
Corona, CA 92880
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