Because I mentioned rulers in my last "Did You Know?" blog, I thought I would go deeper into this topic.
I started with these two tools--cutting mats and rulers--because if you are having trouble with your piecing, chances are the difficulties began at the beginning with cutting your pieces. This, at least, was the source of all my troubles. Getting your pieces cut accurately is paramount in creating your quilt top.
As with cutting mats, not all rulers are created equal either. I have tried just about every ruler on the market, and there is a clear winner--Creative Grids. Coupled with the Creative Grid mats, these rulers have improved my cutting accuracy 1000%. I'm slowly replacing all my other rulers with these rulers.
Quality Costs
As I have said numerous times, you get what you pay for. I'm sorry that I wasted money on inferior products because they were less expensive. They were less expensive for a reason. The Creative Grids rulers are more expensive, but there are reasons for that.
Accuracy
No other ruler can really compare to the accuracy of the Creative Grids rulers. These rulers, no matter the size or configuration, are all the same, so you can easily switch rulers to cut out pieces depending upon the project's needs. For example, you can start off with a large ruler to cut your WOF strips and change to smaller and smaller rulers as you make your sub-cuts, and your accuracy will not change.
Caution: Do not switch between different brands of rulers in a single project unless all the rulers' measurements match exactly.
Non-Slip
As the company's tagline says, Creative Grids are the original non-slip rulers. The bottom side of the ruler has rough strips that grab onto your fabric to keep your fabric from slipping. If your mat is also made to grab onto your fabric, then it won't slip around as you cut.
Products have been created to help slippery rulers become less so. If you have slippery rulers, TrueGrips can help. I have found that other non-slip rulers are not accurate in their measurements. I could not for the longest time understand why my pieces were always coming up smaller than what they should be. I finally realized that it was the non-slip ruler I was using. These rulers were quite expensive and came from a highly reputable designer, but the manufacturing of the rulers was inferior. Check the accuracy of your rulers before making any kind of investment in them.
Rulers truly rule the process. With an accurate ruler that works with you instead of against you, you can comfortably and accurately cut your pieces. This is half the battle toward the piecing of your quilt masterpiece.