Rotary Cutters vs. Scissors
National Sewing Circle EditorsDescription
Scissors and Snips
Depending on who you learned to sew from, you may have simply adopted whichever tool your teacher used as your go-to tool as well without even knowing there are other options. Ashley goes over a few types of scissors and snips, which are some of the essential sewing tools and supplies, and explains how they differ. Large scissors with long blades are typically used to cut fabric which scissors with shorter blades are generally used to cut thread. Small thread cutting scissors are sometimes referred to as snips, since they are what you use to snip small threads and the beginning and end of seams.
Ashley shows that snips can also come in spring loaded varieties, which can make them much quicker and easier to use. She also explains when it can be beneficial to use small scissors that have a slight curve to the blade. While the snips are the only pair of spring loaded scissors Ashley shows, they do make scissors of all sizes in this option- perfect to use if you have or experience any kind of hand discomfort when cutting.
Rotary Cutter
Ashley then goes over several popular rotary cutter sizes. To learn more about other rotary cutter options you can view more videos on sewing tools. The two sizes of rotary cutters she shows are what she considers the most common size used for both sewing and quilting as well as a smaller size that can be used for more intricate cuts. Ashley explains that the smaller blade is much easier to maneuver around curved cuts than the larger blade and gives you a much smoother cut than using standard scissors. She explains that while you may have learned to sew using only scissors, rotary cutters are a great investment for any sewing room.
We all have a different background as to how we got into sewing whether we learned to sew from our mom maybe at a young age, or maybe we learn to quilt first and then got into sewing, but sort of how we started out maybe defines what tools we like to use. But I want to point out that there are many different tools, many different cutting tools that you may not think are necessarily for sewing but that are very helpful when it comes to sewing. So for me, I learned to sew from my mom at a very young age and she did a lot of garment construction, which meant that this was pretty much the only thing I ever saw in her sewing room that she would use. It's just a simple pair of scissors. This would be used to cut out all of the fabric interfacing anything she needed to do garment construction.
This is coincidentally what I only had in my sewing room when I started out as well. But there are definitely some other cutting tools that are very handy to use when you're sewing. One of these would be your snips and snips are really just any kind of really small scissor. These ones happen to be spring loaded which makes them very easy to use. And snips are used to snip your threads after you've done some sewing, whether that's hand sewing or machine sewing, you'll have threads at the beginning and end and you use your snips to cut them.
Another scissor that's fairly handy to have is one that has just a little bit of curve to it. This can be used to cut fabric. If you have two around a curved edge or even when you are snipping some threads, it can be really easy to just lay this on the top of your fabric, make a little snip and you know that this pointed edge isn't going to accidentally cut your fabric 'cause it sort of curves away. So these are very commonly used in sewing. Whereas rotary cutters are very commonly used in quilting but I'm gonna tell you that there are definitely some uses for rotary cutters in sewing projects as well.
And this comes when you're cutting out pattern pieces. If you have something that maybe you're making a pillow, a pillowcase, something that's a really simple shape, it can be much easier to use a rotary cutter, make one long solid cut. Then use your scissors and have to make several cuts along straight edge and actually get a nice straight edge. So using a rotary cutter for that is really handy. Also, if you're cutting out something like a garment that you're sewing and you have to cut around maybe a sleeve cap or an arm's iron or something like that, using a small rotary cutter like this the one with a much smaller blade can be very easy to get around curved edges much easier than a larger rotary blade and also much easier than this straight pair of scissors.
Now, if you are new to using rotary cutters because you've only done maybe some garment sewing and only used scissors, buying a rotary cutter means you also have to invest in some sort of rotary cutting mat and also a ruler as well. This is called a rotary cutting system and you sort of need all three to be able to use them. You don't want to just use your rotary cutter right along a table. Not only will it damage your surface but it will damage your blade as well. So you have to have some sort of mat to use your blade on, but definitely, if you've never done any quilting, you only do sewing, don't shy away from the quilting tools that are these rotary cutting systems.
Get a couple of rotary cutters, a couple of different sizes and use them cutting out your next sewing project. And I think you'll find that it'll be much quicker and much easier.
Share tips, start a discussion or ask other students a question. If you have a question for the instructor, please click here.
Already a member? Sign in
No Responses to “Rotary Cutters vs. Scissors”