AccuQuilt Review

I admit I had been a skeptic of the cutting systems. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not a huge fan of cutting out a bunch of squares and rectangles. But at the same time, I never really minded rotary cutting too much.

As a teacher of youth sewing classes, however, I have had to create templates and multiple patterns for the rectangle and square shapes for my students, so the project can be made entirely by them. With quilts this doesn’t work as well (although this is how I learned to do it when I was younger, since there were no rotary cutters and self-healing mats back then). It’s easier to sew accurately and match up points when things were cut out accurately. But most of my students are not ready for the rotary cutter, and those that are get nervous and don’t want to use the rotary cutter during class.

A lot of the time, I do it for them or request the fabric be brought to class pre-cut and ready to sew (which doesn’t work well when the parent doesn’t sew or have a rotary cutting set-up). So I did a lot of prep work, which was fine. Then there was the issue of the charm packs and other pre-cuts that are sold in the fabric stores. Some kids brought those in. The factory pre-cut fabric packs have pinked edges, which can be tricky for young quilters to use…it’s that pesky seam allowance that they are all working so hard to maintain and sew accurately. Pinked edges just add a new level of challenge for them.

As my summer quilting camps for kids were approaching, I wondered about the various cutting systems. How easy were they to use? Could kids operate them safely? How much fabric would be wasted? What about the grain line? I really like the fabric to be straight on the grain, which is a big problem I have with buying precuts.

And lastly, Could this be an alternative to rotary cutting, so kids could quickly cut out their fabric and get to sewing their quilt tops?

AccuQuilt (non-affiliated link) was generous enough to send me an AccuQuilt Go! to check out and review. So here’s my review from a teacher’s perspective.

First Impression

First thing I noticed as I opened the box was that it’s all ready to go straight out of the box. The second thing I noticed after reading the quick instructions was that it is super simple. It works very much like the Die Cutting Systems I used at the schools, so I felt comfortable with the system straight away.

I did need to buy some supplies in order to test it out. It came with a value die, which cuts several shapes at one time, but I wasn’t ready for that level of planning. I just wanted to have a go at the machine before I decided what I would do with the shapes. I bought the 6 1/2″ square die to test out.

Easy–yes!!

After playing around with the 6 1/2″ square die, I got really excited and purchased a couple more dies to test out.

6 Layers -really?

I had cut some scraps into perfect squares within a minute or 2. I’m not kidding –it was that fast to learn to use. I started playing around with how many layers I could cut at once, utilizing the suggestions from the instructions.

I folded the fabric onto itself in an accordion fashion, as recommended. It worked great. I did notice that it sometimes needs a thread or 2 cut after the fabric was moved through (which happens with my rotary cutter, too). But for the most part, it cut 6 layers without any trouble. Really.

At the end of just one pass through, I had 12 perfectly cut 3 1/2″ squares. Brilliant 🙂

How much waste?

This bothered me a lot and kept me away from cutting systems. I hated the thought of creating tons of waste from my beautiful stash. At first, I just started cutting. But as I kept playing around with it, I quickly saw how to avoid much waste at all. It’s been great. Of course, there is less waste with a rotary cutter set-up, but I’m loving how quickly it works– it takes so much less time and effort to get perfect squares and pieces cut to the exact measurements. It’s a real time saver.

To prep my fabric,  I cut the fabric slightly wider than the square I was preparing to cut. This didn’t take as long, because I didn’t have to be exact.

This was the piece I was left with after cutting 2 – 3 1/2″ squares. A very usable scrap.

Some scraps were already a good width to use. I just aligned the fabric to minimize waste, which was super easy to do.

Here’s all the scrap I was left with. It’s larger than 1″ wide, so it will be perfect for several sewing club projects 🙂

Straight on the grain.

This was a big one for me. Before seeing the AccuQuilt in person, I was very skeptical about it being able to cut on the grainline. I quickly found out how one could make sure to be straight on the grain. The shapes are set on an angle (I think this is to help distribute the pressure on the blades to ensure the fabric gets cut out properly). I have found it’s easy to line up the fabric properly to be straight on the grain.

The contrasting colored foam of the die helps lining up the grainline easy to do. And the cutting mat keeps everything in place as it goes through the AccuQuilt.

Safe for Kids to Use?

Absolutely! I’ve since bought a bunch of dies and have felt very satisfied with the whole system. It is very safe for kids to use, which is its best feature for me. It is very safe for the kids to use–and fun! I helped the kids place the fabric onto the die, and they learn to do the rest. They all really liked using it and spent more time sewing and they got to choose what fabrics to cut. We’ve used it several times in each camp and it’s been great. No added stress for the teacher 😉 and the kids are having a lot of fun with it. It’s been a big hit with the kids!

This allowed the kids to pick their own fabric. After starting to plan their design, some even realized they wanted a different fabric. The AccuQuilt made that an easy thing to do. Instead of waiting for me to cut more fabric squares, the student pressed her fabric, placed it on the cutting die, put the cutting mat on top, and without feeling nervous, turned the handle and cut out her own squares.

When the kids are older, they will certainly want to learn to use a rotary cutter, but I teach kids as young as 7 and this allows these younger students to participate without the fear of someone getting hurt.

Since I design most of the projects for our classes, I will  definitely design around the die cuts available. And let the kids use it to cut out their projects. It’s a great feeling to feel autonomous–plus no more waiting. This will further help to build their confidence, I believe, which always seems to help them progress in their sewing.

I  definitely recommend the AccuQuilt Go! for any quilting or sewing teacher who works with youth. It’s so easy to use and very safe. It saves so much time, too. The pieces are cut out accurately, which helps the finished project to be more accurate. It’s a great tool to have and allows the kids to be involved in the process. I think it’s an ideal tool for youth sewing classes, especially for those younger students.

I love that it’s portable; easy to take to and from class, and easy to set up: just open it up and it’s ready to use. When finished, I just fold up each side and it can be easily stored out of the way.

After I wrote this, I notice the paper work that came with either my Go! or a cutter with some tips. They suggest you place a piece of plain white paper over the fabric and under the cutting mat. I will give that I try soon and share that experience.

Do you have any questions? Any concerns about the AccuQuilt that I didn’t address? Leave me a comment or send me an email and I will try to investigate and answer it for you.