Thursday, October 16, 2008

Cutting Up a Storm!

Warning: Read my lessons learned before you attempt this project!

We made it half of the way through cutting the fringe and corners of the first baby blanket! My mother is the most fabulous quilter and now I know why I am not! I decided to scaffold this by cutting the fleece into two pieces: 48 inches long for the newborn great niece and 24 inches for Baby Alive. I am so thankful I did. It took me an hour of sweating and near tears (but no blood) to trim the cloth and cut it into two pieces. Pamela would definitely have picked up on my frustration. My hats off to all you quilters out there--I cannot hack it myself!
These are the templates for scaffolding: the square for corners, the lines for spacing, and the ruler to guide cutting.
This is how I set up cutting a corner. Many websites recommend the square template, so I am not the genius with this idea. I am the beneficiary and the messenger.
The key to any successful RDI is scaffolding, giving enough support to ensure success without smothering on one end or frustrating on the other. I thought templates would make cutting the blanket run more smoothly.
This is the set up we used to guide the rotary cutter and keep us both on track. I thought it worked pretty well. Our lines are not perfectly straight, and it would not be precise enough for quilting. That is why we are doing a no sew blanket! LOL!
Here is how the fringed looked when finished. Below you can watch the video of us in action.

2 comments:

poohder said...

Nice work!! Very Hard work, but indeed very nice work. Pamela was so in sync with you! We had a project today too, we started the Halloween costume. Rhonda

walking said...

I was sweating away.

Halloween costume? I'll be making that on October 30! LOL!