Thursday, April 2, 2009

Notion of the Week

Or maybe month. Or this may be a one time thing. I am not sure that there are enough new notions that people haven't tried for me to spotlight. We shall see.

Anyway, the notion that I was finally able to put to the test is the Rotary Cutting Mat. The one that I have is a Fiskars brand, but I am sure that they all work the same.

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I like to make half square triangles. When I make them, I try to always make them a little larger than I need so that I can trim them down to the exact size. This usually means that I am always moving the squares around when I trim them. It's a hassle.

This is where the rotating cutting mat comes in.

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It was very easy to line the ruler up and make the cuts that I needed, turning the mat as necessary.

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For the pattern that I am making, I needed to cut 5" squares into 2 1/2" squares, also. This was very fast using the rotating mat.

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I laid out 4 squares and then made the cuts one way and turned the mat to cut the other way. Very quick!!

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So if you like to make things that involve a lot of cutting of pieces into smaller pieces or trimming up HSTs, I would definitely recommend a rotating mat!

3 comments:

Tina said...

I love having a rotating mat! But....I made my own. I didn't want to spend the money....so I bought a lazy-susan rotating tray - cheap one in a dollar store. Had my husband cut an old cutting mat into a circle with tin snips, glued down a piece of cardboard on the lazy-susan to bring the inside up to the edges and then glued down the cutting mat. I only wish I had made a bigger one - but it works great!

Barb said...

That is indeed a great notion. On another note, I recognize that fabric as Pat Sloan's Mirabella collection. Are you doing her "Death by Quilting" challenge? I'm attempting it. Wish me luck!

Linda said...

Jill, your explanation and pictures showing how to use the product are great! I have a rotating cutting mat that I like, too. Mine isn't as nice as the one you have (can you say "upgrade"?) Anyway, thanks for sharing your information. I think having you highlight a notion for us whenever you feel the urge is a terrific idea.