Havels Fabric & Quilt Ruler Cutter : Product Review, Tutorial and a Giveaway
by Shruti Dandekar October 04, 2017
I love a few of my quilting tools and I would love to share them with you. My favorite cutting tool is the Havels Fabric and Quilt Ruler Cutter.
I love all the new tools that I see in the market. So after becoming the Brand Ambassador for Havels Sewing, the first thing I ordered was their fabulous cutting system aka the Havels Fabric and Quilt Ruler Cutter.
This is how Havels website describes it:
A revolutionary new product from Havel’s Sewing, our Fabric and Quilt Ruler Cutter will save you a ton of time with any project! It’s easy to use, and the “no-slip-grip-strip” keeps it stable for better control and more precise cutting. Made for use with our extra sharp, replaceable 45mm alloy steel rotary blade.
● Drastically reduces your cutting time!
● 27 1/2” long, 6” wide – great for a wide variety
of projects
● Saves wear and tear on hands and wrists
(easy on carpal tunnel!)
● Clear, easy to read measurements on ruler
● Magnetic wand included
$59.99
And here are my views about it :
1. When I held it in my hand the first thing I noticed was that it was not as heavy as I thought it would be. There is a large channel that runs on your dominant hand side (both lefties and righties can use this) where the blade is mounted. It makes it look heavy, but it isn’t. Of course I would not compare the weight with a regular ruler.
2. The ruler is LONG! At 27.5″ it is the longest ruler I have and makes cutting larger pieces of fabric a breeze. It is actually longer than my cutting mat!
3. The ruler needs a little getting used to. ONE inch of the ruler goes under the channel. So it needs a little bit of time to get used to the measurements. Its super simple, just follow the markings on the ruler rather than making your own calculations.
4. Cutting pieces less than 1″ is tricky. Not impossible. Just read my small tutorial on how to cut strips smaller than 1″ using this cutter at the end of this post.
5. The rotary cutting blade is NEVER exposed to your hands! That means it can be very safe to use! A few years back, Aadi had cut his fingers with a rotary cutter and needed 11 stitches (his left thumb nail still grows in two pieces). It was every quilter’s nightmare. Since then, I have never really been comfortable letting him use the rotary cutter. I have hovered over him each time he uses one. But with this cutting system, I can see myself letting him use it without me loosing a few heartbeats.
6. It uses the regular 45 mm Rotary Cutter blades. They recommend using Havel’s blades. But I tried using my Fiskars titanium blade and it works just fine.
7. Changing the blade is easier than my Olfa Ergonomic Cutter. The best part is that I do not have to remember the sequence of the parts as I remove them!
8. At $59.99, it is a bit steeply priced, as compared to an Olfa Ergonomic Rotary Cutter PLUS an Omnigrid 6 x 24 ruler (on Amazon) – $32.91, but the convenience of using the product is totally worth it.
9. Overall, I love the product. I have already switched to it instead of my routine ruler-cutter combo without even realizing it.
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to cut pieces smaller than 1″ using the cutting system.
• Lay your fabric on the cutting mat aligning the grain of the fabric with the grid on the mat.
• First cut the left edge of the fabric. Just use your palm to press down firmly on the cutter and slide it away from your body. Remove the piece of fabric on the extreme left.
• Now align the lines on the ruler with the lines on the mat to measure desired width. In my case it was 3/4″. And cut again.
• You’re done!
The super fun guys at Havels have offered a fabulous chance to win this awesome cutting system. Head over to my Instagrampost and follow me to know more about it.