The Quilt Maker's Toolkit - Havel's Ruler Cutter - video tutorial

Today’s post is a part of a series called The Quilt Maker’s Toolkit, showing and teaching about the products I use while I make my quilts.

There are no products in this series that I do not use and use often, though sometimes my opinions may change as I grow and move along in my journey of quilt making. To view all posts in this series click here.

Hiya!

Today I’m doing a sponsored post on a product that I’m newly in love with from Havel’s Sewing. It’s their ruler cutter!

Find it in their shop here.

I’ve got a video tutorial for you to watch me use this gadget. Don’t mind the fact that the whole time in my video I’m calling this a rotary cutter and am tongue tied every time I use the word. It’s a RULER cutter! A RULER cutter. I keep telling myself that, but rotary cutter keeps coming out of my mouth. Sorry about that!

The Landslide Quilt Pattern

[purchase_link id=”16460″ style=”button” color=”white” text=”Purchase” direct=”true”]

So what’s a ruler cutter?

I’m so glad you asked!

The Havel’s ruler cutter is a ROTARY cutter with a ruler attached. You use it in place of your everyday rotary cutter. In my opinion it is best when you are about to get on your “LOOOOOONG cutting sessions”. As in, I’m about to cut one hundred and forty strips of fabric and then I’m going to cut squares from all of that. Yah!

For those of you (like me) who like to get everything cut all at once this is ideal for you!

What’s so great about it?

Let me make you a list. Yes, a list! It’s great enough for that.

No need to grip a rotary cutter – If you are older and experience arthritis, this might be just the kinda thing you need to help you get your fabrics cut with less pain on your hands. If you are younger and don’t have hand pain you might be singing another tune after cutting those one hundred and forty fabric strips with your standard rotary cutter.
Precision – Okay, this one actually surprised me. I’m pretty precise with my rotary cutter, and I’ve come up with my own ways of making sure I do a good job cutting fabrics, but I have to admit that I have ruler sliding problems fairly often. Does this sound familiar? You are cutting your strips of fabric and as you near the end of cutting a single strip your ruler budges just a hair and you end up with strips that start out at 2.5″ and ended up a little narrower than that at the end. This happens to me a lot! The ruler cutter is weighty. Put your hand on the ruler to hold it down and with your other hand move the cutter and cut. No need to adjust your hand or the ruler. It doesn’t move at all!
Speed – When I used the ruler cutter for my first project I didn’t think it was much faster. I was learning. When I used it for my second I was surprised at how much time it shaved off my cutting. It really is faster once you get the hang of it.

I love cutting fabric! I know that for most quilt makers I’ve talked to it’s not their favorite. For me, it’s exciting working through all the fabrics I chose and it’s the step right before you start your piecing when all the magic happens. Naturally, I’m going to like anything that cuts as good as this thing does. But let me list some cons to be fair and do this review properly.

Cons:

It won’t cut through more than four layers of fabric. I’ve tried and just ended up having to go over it with my regular rotary cutter.
It’s pricy. It really is, but if you (like me) cut fabric ALL. THE . TIME. I feel like it’s a worthy investment. Plus, if you decide to purchase, be sure to use my coupon code “SouthernCharm7”. This will give you $7 off at Havel’s Sewing. Or Havel’s also sells this on Amazon for a bit cheaper here.

How to Use it

Tips:

It’s kinda tricky at first learning where to place the ruler and how to cut where you want. Stick with it. It will make sense soon.
It’s best used at cutting strips and squares from strips. I wouldn’t swap my rotary cutter unless I’m going to be doing a lot of cutting.
Match up the lines on the ruler with the lines are your rotary mat.
Don’t use more than four layers of fabric.
Be sure to press down on the cutter handle. It needs to meet the fabric.
Don’t worry about the “silver” part that blocks the lines on mat. Focus getting the lines on the ruler portion and the lines of your mat aligned.