Using a Rotary Cutter

Hello fashion sewers and welcome to Fashion Sewing Blog.

In today’s article and FREE fashion sewing video tutorial, I want us to take a closer look at some of the tools designed to make our sewing projects that little easier.

I’d like to demonstrate for you, some of the many benefits of owning and using a rotary cutter, and maybe influence those of you who don’t already own one, to add this neat little fashion sewing tool to your fashion sewing tool collection.

In my humble opinion – A great tool that’s almost invaluable in some circumstances.

So Why Do We Need a Rotary Cutter?

When it comes to cutting your fashion fabric and your sewing pattern pieces you have a choice.

You can either invest in a high quality pair of fabric scissors AND a pair of paper scissors, OR, you can but a rotary cutter that can do both jobs just as well.

A rotary cutter in its purist form is simply a circular blade, mounted on a handle. The blade stands proud from the handle when ready for cutting, and retracts when not in use.

The rotary cutter is a versatile tool (as I’ll demonstrate in my video) and may even, in some cases, overshadow a pair of scissors.

We will look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of rotary cutters a little further on in this post, but first, I’d like to present to you my video tutorial -

Using a Rotary Cutter

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Did you find this fashion sewing tutorial of use? Please do get in touch and let me know.

So, before we end today, I did make mention earlier that we would look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of using a rotary cutter.

Let us start with some of the reasons why I think we, as fashion sewers, need a rotary cutter in our tool box.

Using a Rotary Cutter – Advantages

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1 – It can be used left or right handed
2 – You can cut forward AND backwards
3 – Cuts decorative shapes with slightly more control than scissors
4 – Can easily cut through a number of layers of fabric
5 – You can buy a guide arm that can be set for seam allowances

But of course, the rotary cutter is by no means perfect!

Using a Rotary Cutter – Disadvantages

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1 – You MUST use a cutting mat
2 – The blades are VERY sharp and can cause injury
3 – Some blades DO NOT retract automatically
4 – It’s hard to ‘nip‘ into those smaller areas.

The only thing I can advise on in the end, is to try out a rotary cutter and see if it suits you.

Personally, I use rotary cutters and scissors.

As with most things fashion sewing, it all comes down to personal preference and how you, as an individual works.

I hope you enjoyed this fashion sewing demonstration. If you have any questions than please feel free to get in touch or leave a comment in the box below.

Happy fashion sewing

About the Author: Colleen G Lea is the founder of Fashion Sewing Blog and co-owner of DC Media Productions. Get more from Colleen at YouTube and Google+.

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