A question for Quilters…

I don’t know how many of you use an accu-quilt product.  I have had one for a long time, before they were really popular.  Maybe 15 years or more.  One of my girlfriend’s is a teacher and brought one home from the school to work on something.  I ran and got some fabric and it cut so well that I ended up buying one.  Of course I have the “school” model, not the fancy ones aimed at quilters.  When I got it, it was initially for shapes, pumpkins and planes and dogs etc…  At some point my late husband Jerry got me a big set of quilt blocks.  It cost several hundred dollars.  I had never used them until this past weekend.

So I cut out All the pieces for the quilt pictured using my accu-cut.  Here is what I found, 20170905_203052_resized.jpgthat there seemed to be a lot of cutting before you die cut and then there was a lot of waste.  I had a fairly large half square triangle that was just that a half square triangle on the die, instead of a square cut on the the diagonal.

I understand the concept behind die cutting.  Each piece is perfectly cut and exactly the same.  It is supposed to make piecing more accurate and easy.  I don’t know if it does or doesn’t.  I just felt like it took twice as long because I had to cut before die cutting and then the waste.  Don’t get me wrong, I love it for cute shapes, I am just not sure about block cutting.  I am hoping someone can share their thoughts with me because it just seems weird to me.

Normally, when I am cutting my pieces, I do have an Alto Quilt Cut, which I love, so I feel I am pretty accurate.  What am I missing?  Thanks for your help.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting