diydivas.myfastforum.org

Joined: 21 Feb 2007 Posts: 7

Thanks to all the other bag ladies at Etsy, I picked up a great tip the other day.

I've started cutting all of my patterns out of quilter's template plastic which you can buy at fabric stores like JoAnn's. I also bought a self healing cutting mat and two rotary cutters. Oh my gosh! I am getting stuff cut out so much faster now! And, I'm not having to retrace my patterns every few bags!

Just thought I'd pass that along!

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:07 am

Best tip ever!!! I spend so much time cutting and remaking patterns. a self healing mat would be cool too! How much did you pay for yours?

Joined: 21 Feb 2007 Posts: 7

They were on sale for 40% off at Joann's last weekend. I think I ended up paying $12, or so. And, it's a nice big one, too! Definitely watch for sales or coupons, because they aren't cheap!

Joined: 21 Feb 2007 Posts: 15 Location: Chicago

I've been thinking about getting a rotary cutter.. maybe for my birthday (this Sunday).. but what is this quilter's plastic? It sounds like it is like making a normal pattern but with plastic? How much does it cost, how does it work, etc... would the "lady" at the store know what i was talking about if i asked her...
thanks!

Joined: 21 Feb 2007 Posts: 7

It's called Quilters Template Plastic. The sheets I got were 12" x 18". They were almost $4 a piece, but I won't have to make new ones for a while. The sheets are translucent, so you can easily trace your pattern onto them. I used a permanent marker to trace the pattern and then cut them out with scissors. It's really hard to cut them with the rotary cutter, which is good since you don't want to slice through your pattern when you're cutting fabric.

Some of my pieces didn't fit on one sheet, so I used two sheets and taped them together with clear packing tape.

The plastic is too thick for you to pin them to your fabric, so I've been using soup cans to hold them in place while I cut. You still have to be careful not to slide the pattern while your cutting, but it goes sooo much faster than pinning, then cutting, then unpinning, then pinning... UGH! Cutting is my least favorite part of sewing!