When I first heard about the AccuQuilt Go Fabric cutter, I thought that it was a nice tool, but that I'd be happy to continue to use my trusty rulers and rotary cutter. I simply couldn't imagine that it would be a helpful tool for someone like me. After all, I can remember when rotary cutters were first released to the quilting world (yes, I am that old) and my trusty rulers and rotary cutter certainly meet my needs.
But, after spending a couple of hours cutting "simple strips", I was sold on the benefits of the AccuQuilt Go. I'm actually so sold on this product, you are going to be hearing me talk about it a lot in the near future.
The AccuQuilt Go is so good that I cut ~30 yards of fabric within a few hours. Even better, I was able to casually chat with others while cutting and didn't find the need to continually focus on my rulers and rotary cutter. I also knew that every cut was going to produce accurate strips. If I had cut this much fabric using the "old fashioned" method, I would have most likely spent days cutting ~30 yards of fabric, tossed several strips, and be physically sore, plus I wouldn't have wanted to chat with anyone while I was concentrating using the old fashioned method.
Not only was the AccuQuilt Go accurate and fast, but I also fell in love how you could literally stack scraps (not pre-cut pieces perfect for the die) and quickly get usable cuts of fabric. And I'm talking about a scenario where you get usable cuts of fabric from scraps that I would have typically tossed, as they'd have been two tedious to cut with the "old fashioned method".
I now have oodles of cut fabric to help me quickly make several strip quilts! And I only spent a few hours (maybe <2, but it was so fast I forgot to time myself).
While I plan to share more insights on the AccuQuilt & Go in the near future, to let you see what I've been using it for, I do want to share with you my conclusion now.
The AccuQuilt Go cutter is a great tool that I feel is a "must have" for every quilt shop to have for use by their customers, as well as offer it for sale. It is also a "must have" for guilds, for use by their members, and an absolute "must have" for quilters that are active in making charity quilts and/or prolific quilters. If you are like me, and a quilter that does not fall into any of the above categories, the AccuQuilt & Go may not be a "must have", but it is a device that I'm sure you'd really enjoy. It is a cutting device that provides you precise cutting, with quality die, that you can even recruit non-quilters to help cut fabric and be confident your pieces will be cut accurately. It enable faster and more comfortable cutting than rulers and rotary cutters, and the AccuQuilt Go cutter has accessory dies that will allow you to cut fabric for just about every pattern you may ever want to make.
I hope you can see why I quickly fell in love with the AccuQuilt & Go cutter. If you haven't, I hope you'll check back as I share more on this great cutter in future weeks.....as I'm sure you'll see many ways that it can help you be more productive and accurate too!
http://www.accuquilt.com/
Watch the AccuQuiltGo demo: http://www.accuquilt.com/images/video/go/flv-go.html
7 comments:
I saw this used by a quilter at the last retreat I went to. She was cutting out flower and leaf shapes. It was very cool. I have used die cutters to cut paper before, it is the same concept. Thanks for sharing more about it! I am curious about how it cuts strips and does it get really expensive to buy all the different dies?
Thanks for the scoop on this product. I had heard of it, but knew very little about it. When you hear someone say they cut 30 yards of fabric into strips in a couple hours...well, that's informative! Going to check out the links! Thanks!
I will have to look into it. I don't know if they carry it in Ireland or the UK. It sounds incredible!
Micki
A really interesting insight. I gained a lot of information from your post.
Thanks for your comment on my blog.
This is the second time I have tried to comment here. Hope it works this time!
Thanks for sharing your views on this machine. Any chance you have any Sizzix dies and if they work in the GO machine???
I don't have any Sizzix dies, but I doubt that they'd work. And I don't believe the dies for the Go would work on the Sizzix cutter. They are different sizes and Sizzix was designed to cut paper vs fabric. But it could be worth a try if anyone has a AccuQuilt Go and some Sizzix dies.
SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com
I'll be writing another post on AccuQuilt soon, but some have asked if you have to precut your fabric. Yes & No. I've had great fun laying scraps, that I would have tossed, over the dies and cut very usable pieces with scraps I would have previously tossed. With respect to pre-cut, you can, but I have also found it easy to fold fabric, creating layer on layer. And I don't toss any scrap of fabric from these folds, or from a die, as I try to use them on another die (eg. value pack).
Hard to believe but the scraps I now toss are not necessarily scraps but threads of fabric.
SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com
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