OLFA RTY-2 - DX Ergonomic Rotary Cutter - SHOWCASE

And now I think we get to move over to something that's going to help us cut and prepare our fabric before we ever even get to a machine. Um And that is some fa products. So I have more of a quilting background. I know you have more of a sewing background but rotary cutters, rulers and mass work for both crafts um and, and other crafts as well. So don't think that you have to be one or the other to use these tools. Um This is probably one of the first rotary cutters I ever bought was an an fa one and I've stuck with them ever since. And so love the, the rotary cutters and the rulers and the mats and as a non quilter. Um, do you still use these as well? Absolutely. The rotary cutter is great for cutting out garments and getting into the curves of neck lines and arm size. So good rotary cutter is super important and rulers as well for any of your um straight cuts for purses and accessories, home deck projects. Um A good ruler is super important. Yeah, absolutely. And not only with these rulers being good for quilting cotton. But you mentioned all those other fabrics that you're using, maybe for those garments. Not all of those are, you know, a, a very nice surface to cut on. Right. They're a little slinky. They're a little, um, slick. And so these rulers are the ones that have sort of the, you know, the frosting on the back. Uh, that way they're nice and grippy on, on the fabric as well. So again, it works for all things, quilting and sewing. So we're gonna now show you a video where uh one of our other contributors, Colleen Talkie goes a little bit more in depth about all of these, all of these products and the features that they have as quilters tools are everything accuracy. The, the pieces that we need to make patchwork are so important to us fa has a wonderful set of tools on the market and um as a quilter who's worked in quilt shops over the years, I've always been asked, where should I start? When I go to purchase tools? What are reliable tools, accurate things, things I'm always gonna want to have at the ready and a good mat, a good ruler and rotary cutter are essential to success in quilting. So we let's look at some of the tools that Olfa has available for us. The cutting mat is always the first place to start the cover of your surface so that you can cut all of that wonderful patchwork through um all the different projects you're gonna be working on and they have um a different variety. They have four different sizes on the market, but I always suggest by the largest mat you can afford. And that um for me has always been the 24 by 36 is the one that you see here because that way you always have the ability to cut across a width of fabric that's folded and maneuver for just about any shape um that you're going to be creating in the future. So a mat like this, it's a self healing mat. So as you cut across it, the little little nicks and things kind of close up as you work across it, um the mats come in green or a dark gray. So the mat that um we see here covers that nice um with the fabric and then since you're going to be working on something large like that, the next thing that I would always suggest is a ruler that is 24 inches wide, that helps you get across a width of fabric like this so that you can cut those border strips, those sing strips nice and easily across the width of fabric and whether it's six or 6.5 wide, this is the really the most common width that you're going to be using in measurement. So um the six by 24 top notch uh ruler that you wanna purchase the other thing about this one is that it comes with a frosted backside that frosted surface helps you um reduce the glare on um on the ruler as you look down through it. So if you have any issues with bounce back, um that frosted side really does help and it also helps with stability, it helps, it doesn't slide across the fabric as you're trying to cut because again, accuracy is important and that non slip surface really does help out. Now, the markings on the ruler do come in a black and for some people, different colors on a ruler can cause issues on how well you see the edge of the fabric. Now the black markings, some will say, but black markings on black fabric, that's usually the the biggest issue of how well you can see. But that frosted surface as you see here makes those markings very easily read by you so that you can then cut the strips and squares that you need. So that non glare does help with the um reading on dark fabrics. It works great on the light color fabrics. But what about those in between values? Like maybe reds or blues? Are they easily red, very easy to read on red or blue? So that those marks are very easy for your eye to pick up so that your accuracy and cutting then increases. One other thing I needed to point out I wanted to show you is that it has um a compass across the um ruler so that you have different angles. A lot of times a project will have you um trimming something or cutting angles to cut diamonds and quilters will ask. Well, do I have to go out and buy another ruler? Do I have to have a diamond ruler or a trimming ruler? Well, you don't actually, you have all of the angles that you need on your ruler. It's just learning how to use them. And a little later, I'll show you real quick how to cut diamond shapes off of just a simple rectangular ruler. But if we're gonna cut something that means we need a rotary cutter. That is something that we're comfortable using. Now, I can brag that fa was the very first rotary cutter that I purchased um more years ago than I want to remember. And that was when the handle was a simple bar, but they've increased their comfort and the angle at which we um find ourselves maybe having fatigue by creating a curved handle and a grip method. This reduces stress fatigue on your wrist and your hand and it makes it much more comfortable to cut pieces. Uh maybe you're cutting out an entire project at once. So this is a great rotary cutter for you. Now, the different features on this, the curved handle has kind of a rubberized grip on each side. So it reduces a slip out of your hand, that curve does fit into the palm of the hand with much more comfort than the old straight bar type handle. And the grooves along the top here, make sure that you don't slip with your fingers. So that when you put your hand down for pressure to cut across fabric, it keeps your finger from slipping. The, um, last thing is that it has a lock system so that, um, you don't forget and lay down the rotary cutter and, uh, or put it into the drawer and not close it so that the blade stays retracted. So by using this red button, just a simple little pop, it's not hard or stressful on the fingers that releases the blade when you grab a hold of the grip system and then the blade is exposed for cutting. I usually always try to remember to click to close when you lay it down. Um, a rotary cutter that's open, it can be exposed can be dropped means that injuries can happen. So that simple little click of a button, make sure that you stay safe at all times. The other thing about that's nice about this is that, um, over the years I've had people come and say I'm left handed. I need a rotary cutter that works for me. And after a while I realized that there were a lot of them on the market that were designed for right handers and lefties wanna be creative too. So thought about that and created, um, a the system where you can basically flip the blade to this side. It shaped the s the same on both sides. So that easily the blade can system can be flipped over and added to the side. So that lefties have the same exact tool as right handed quilters. So we've got the, um, blade ready to go. I'm gonna lay that over here lock just for a second so that we can do a bit of cutting because we're always squaring up pieces and squaring up our fabric before we cut. So by laying out our fabric, the first few cuts on a brand new blade are always the most amazing things. Um, do know that the um fa cutter can also accept the pinking blade. These are specialty blades, a pinking blade, a wavy and a scallop blade. They do fit into this mechanism. Just realize that the blade is a little bit more exposed when um, off of the surface of the um, cutter, when using those blades, but they can be used in the system. So once I have my ruler in place a simple cut across and I have cut nice simple strip without any stress on my hands or wrist. So that is cutting just a simple strip off of it. But I said, let's that we could also cut things that are at angles. So let's have a little quick demo. I'm gonna cut, I've made a, a strip set here and I wanna cut some diamond shapes in order to create uh a star design, my angle is going to be the 60 degree angle right here. And I wanna place that along the lower portion of my strip set. And because of the math within this, maybe your pattern will call for different sizes. But because my strips were cut at 2.5, that means that the, the units that I want to cut off of the strip also need to be 2.5. So what I do then with my 60 degree line at the bottom of the strip set, I look for 12 and I just need 2.5 inches. So I don't waste any of my strip set. So I'm looking here 12, my half line is this broken one here. So I can simply cut along the edge of my strip set. I'm gonna lift the ruler, but I'm just gonna flip my piece around and I'm going to line up that 60 degree along the bottom. My 2.5 inch line, a long the piece that I just cut and then I can go back and cut the second side of my diamond and then I can just continue down my strip set 60 degree line, 1, 2.5, cutting the remainder of my pieces. So I don't need a diamond ruler or a triangle. I just need to learn to use those markings that are provided on my ruler. There we go. I love that she chose cutting angles at the end because I'm pretty sure it was probably a few years after I even started using rulers that I realized that they have those angles that you can do that. Yeah, so we're starting to see more, more comments and some questions coming in here. Definitely love to still see that people are saying hello, please keep doing that. Um We have a, a couple here that aren't necessarily questions, but um someone said that they love the safety on the fa cutter. And Donna says that as she is staring at the scar on her index finger from another brand of cutter. So definitely the safety features are great on this. Um I definitely like this one just because it always just springs back automatically because I know that there are other ones where you have to actually engage it and I kind of always forget to do that and we both have young kids that are probably in and around our sewing room a lot. So having one that just automatically goes back and then that extra feature of being able to lock it I think is perfect. Definitely love that we have other uh questions and comments here about the the ruler. So Arci says that she is so glad for this product review and as a new quilter and amateur crafter it's helpful to know where to begin and I definitely second that as well. So especially if you walk into a craft store and you have so many different options. Um, all sizes, shapes, colors, brands, everything. Um It's great to know what, what other people are using. And especially when it comes to fa it's something that, you know, if you like their rotary cutter, try out their mats and rulers too or same thing. If you like just one of these three things, it's great to be able to put them all together as a system because, you know, they all work good together for sure. And it can be super overwhelming all of those different tools. Um And it can really sort of make or break your project and your experience in the sewing room to have good tools. Absolutely. And there's one other little feature I wanna show about this map, which I think is super cool. Um So this is one where obviously as a quilter, this is probably the side of the map that I'm gonna use, you know, 90% of the time because I am, I'm cutting those strips, I'm cutting the things that Colleen just showed. But as someone who maybe is, is cutting out, I don't know the bodice of a dress or something like that, you have sort of the general use side of the map. So if you don't need all of those lines, you don't need those grid lines or maybe you're some who uh never cuts using those grid lines. You use the lines on your ruler. Instead, you can have just, you know, free rein to put your pieces in whatever direction you want and use this side. So I think this is a great feature too. It can be a little less distracting to get on this side. And especially if you're just getting used to new rulers, new sizes of rulers. Um You can really focus on how you hold that ruler and how you use it on this side here. So love that feature as well. So do one more uh check here for any questions, still a lot of hellos coming in. So thank you so much, everyone for watching.