I just had to share a product I’ve been drooling over.
This OLFA Rotary Circle Cutter
works just like the compass you used back in Geometry class (you know, the one that had a pencil clipped to one end) except, instead of a pencil to draw the circle it’s got a rotary blade to cut it out of fabric. Oh man- can you imagine how nice this thing would be when you’re doing raw edged applique? Cutting circles out with scissors just isn’t the same. And while I love the idea of using one of those die cutters, the reality of storing it makes me lean towards this little guy. Not to mention, you can adjust your circle size to exactly what you need rather than depending on the available dies.
My desire for that sewing geometry tool is seconded by this combo:
While the EZ Quilting Mini Rotary Cutter
and Wrights Easy Circle Cut Ruler
aren’t nearly as exciting to me as the OLFA cutter (I like getting crazy tools…) the idea of the mini rotary cutter is looking pretty good. If the small blade could easily navigate through the circle guides, it seems it would navigate through a lot of turns that my normal sized rotary blade would be a bit clumsy with.
How about you? How do you deal with cutting perfect circles? Have you tried either of these methods? I’d love to hear how they went for you!
I have the OLFA one and it works really well. I’ve really only used it for cutting a ton of felt circles for garland and I had to practice a bit to get the feel of it, but it worked great. It made the circles more clean cut and it was a lot faster. I could do two layers of felt at a time. Plus my hand starts to get a little sore with tons of time spent cutting so this was a nice change. I recommend using a glass or smooth plastic cutting mat instead of a self healing one. Just seemed smoother to cut for me.
Oh, that makes me so excited to hear it works! Thanks for the tips- I wouldn’t have thought of using a glass surface rather than a help healing mat so I’m glad you mentioned it.