ANYBODY know how to use a "fabric strip cutter" to make knitting strips?

Question

I just bought a fabric strip cutter, and what confuses me is how am I supposed to use the strips in one contiuous piece? Am I supposed to sew EACH ONE together or what? Am I just making this harder than it is? HELP?!?!

This weird little contraption isn't a rolling fabric cutter. This thing has these blades that cut strips. I am just tryin to figure any ways I can learn to do it better and save time.

Answer 1

If you put a small slit in one end of your strip there's a way to attach them without sewing. Put a slit (about 1/2" long") close to the end but not through the selvedge. Then take another strip and put it through the slit in the first strip. Take the end of the strip that's in the slit, put that end through the slit in this piece and pull it until it makes a slip knot. Only the first and last strips will have only one slit. All the other pieces will have a slit on both ends.

This was hard to describe but I know it works. One of my friends knitted a purse from fabric strips and I helped her. It's been over a year ago and she learned it from a book. I don't have the title.

Answer 2

If the strips can be (or are supposed to be) cut on the diagonal of the fabric's weave (this makes them more flexible and stretchable), there are a couple of methods for cutting strips that make either one long continuous strip, or the longest strips possible, from a squares of fabric... these methods are used to make bias "binding strips" for the edge of a quilt (which are usually folded over wrong side to wrong side before attaching --but that part wouldn't affect you).

The first way is sort of like sewing all the strip ends together *before you even cut them* (which sounds impossible, but it's not). Here's a good visual for doing "continuous" bias binding:
http://www.fabriclandwest.com/quilters%20corner/biasbinding.htm

Cutting the second way usually yields several long strips and a few short ones (which you could discard or save for just if you need them later, if you wanted). Here's one lesson for that, except that you do it even more quickly if you first:
...fold the fabric over onto itself into a triangle (so the fold is on a bias grain)
....cut off just the fold (through both sides of fabric)
.... then begin cutting your diagonal strips (but you'll be cutting two at a time this way)
http://www.farthingales.on.ca/applying_binding.html

P.S. You are using a "self-healing" mat under the rotary blade, aren't you? If not, the blade will dull a lot faster.

HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 3

Yes, you need to stitch them together. Hopefully you are cutting the longest strips you can from the fabric. You stitch them diagonally across the strip and trim away the excess, this keeps you from having "lumps" in your project.