Testing the Dies

Lets start pretty with a nice fabric stack- I am enticing you in...

Interested?  Well now I've caught your attention it is carrot and stitck, the carrot comes at the end but meanwhile I have been testing my Accuquilt dies and not wanting to waste fabric I have gone to my ugly pile of 1980s rejects that I use to test ideas and shapes so I apologise for the dull fabrics but its all in the name of testing.  I was really happy with the Drunkard's Path die, it made economical use of fabric, cut a shape I would struggle to cut consistently by hand and added the handy notches.  I find the block useful and have other ideas for it in the future. The next die I wanted was 2.5 strip cutter.  this is a giant of a die designed so a folded piece of fabric will cut a 2 full fabric width strips 2.5 inches wide, handy for binding, sashing etc  But that is not all it will do...

Once you have cut a stack of 2.5 inch strips you can lay one pile down the centre- roll it through and you will have 1.25 inch strips.  You do have to place carefully, I tired using a bit of chalk to help line up but the spongy surface is not great for this.  Amy recommends a Sharpie for this. You could use masking tape for temporary hold but keep it well away from the cutting blades.  Better than this is placing the strips at a right angle, you will need to trim them, I did it to 5.25 inches, but it is a quick way to cut a huge stack of 2.25 inch squares, especially if you used the full length of the die.  It takes a bit more patience to do diamonds on the same die.  The strip needs to be lined up at a 45 degree angle to the cutting blades and trimmed at either end so it doesn't over hang

Chalk and masking tape would help again, I rushed this so my results could've been more accurate.

Diamonds are hard to cut with a standard quilt ruler so I like this feature but I think I would use scraps for this, roll them through to produce short strips and then diamond cut them.  It does make the strip cutter more versatile than I first thought.

 My final choice was the value die- this is what I always chose in giveaways!  It was more limited than I realised. It is designed to cut the shapes separately not all together unless you want to waste your fabric!  The shapes are compatible with each other, the triangles form a 2.5 inch square, the big square is 5 inches so you could use them together to create blocks.

The blades run off centre and I tried lining the fabric up to the edge of the whole die and then with the blades- I thought it was best lined up with the blades- the grain is straight and the accuracy is fine.

The best shapes are the triangles, I find these harder to rotary cut accurately and these stitch together without dog ears to trim and make neat half square triangle blocks.  With a little stack of 6 layers you can cut 12 triangles.  The squares cut fine but I would need to precut a strip and carefully fold it when I might as well cut 6 squares with a rotary cutter or using the strip cutter so not so useful for me.

The value die is what it says- good value- 3 shapes in one die but you are not really getting the benefits of bulk which is what the accuquilt does so well.  If I was choosing again I would go for a triangles die that cuts a lot more triangles in one go.   If enough of you register for this... 

 I might just do that!- No obligation really :)

So if I was you and I had 3 dies to choose, I would consider:  What shapes do you use a lot in your sewing?  I think any dies with curves are great as these are hard to cut using other methods.  The 2.5 strip cutter offers more variety  than you would think.  I like the triangle dies like this as they come pre snipped and easier to match up and will cut a lot more than the value die.  If you are an applique fan there are a huge number of applique blocks and there is a new ric rac die with curves all the way.  If you like rag style quilting there are rag dies, all the snipping done for you- saves a heap of work!  

So back to pretties- tutorial coming for this soon- 

Courthouse Steps cushion/pillow in yellows and greys, I am just waiting for some more grey fabric- I didn't realise I had so little!

and lets not forget this...

Comments are now closed!  Thankyou for all the entries.

To win an Accuquilt Baby Go! plus 3 dies of your choice with cutting boards included please leave a comment below.  Want something to comment on?  I have a big stack of Little Folks voiles that I want to make into a single sized quilt for me- it must be a quilt as you go friendly block and with quite chunky pieces-I want the fabric to shine! Any suggestions would be welcome.  Plus any experience you have had machine quilting Little Folks would also be good- I can't do hand quilting,  good for a quilt but bad for my hands. 

 Otherwise recommend me something in your comment- music, recipes, books, blogs, sewing, whatever, I don't mind.  

Your email must be in your profile or your comment- Are you a no-reply blogger? Check here International entries are welcome, the generous folks at Accuquilt will send this straight to the winner anywhere in the world!  I won't reply to comments this time but I will look at what you recommend for Little Folks or anything else!

Comments close 6.30 am GMT Friday 9th Sept.  Random Number will chose the lucky winner.