kathyst2 wrote:
Heather, which dies did you find useful? Do you use the strip dies?
My local guild and the quilt shop don't have anything in the accuquilt line for people to use. I think the quilt shop cuts their kits by hand, since I've been in there while they are cutting!
Kathy
Kathy, I haven't tried strip dies yet but I think they'd be fabulous.
I love any of the triangle ones, and I just bought some for an upcoming project (petal shapes) that I haven't used yet. I have some plain square ones as well, and some rectangle ones, and those were brilliant. At first I thought it wasteful to use them for simple squares and rectangles, but every time I've had a ruler slip while cutting things in sizes I don't have dies for.....I'm reminded that putting a wonky strip in my scrap bin wastes more fabric than the little extra bits leftover when I use the Go cutter.
I think as to what will be most useful, that will depend on what style you mostly sew. A friend of mine likes to buy the block sets, that have all the pieces for a whole block; I haven't splurged on those yet, they are pricey!, but they are a good way to get lots of shapes. I just don't always sew traditional stuff.
I guess if it were me, I'd either buy first what I use the most of (and it may still come with the starter dies), or the hardest for me to cut. For example, if I ever make another Storm at Sea pattern, I will definitely find what dies they have for that and get one, rather than cutting all the wonky angles of the diamonds. But, between now and then, I don't use diamonds much so I wouldn't buy it "just because" if that makes sense.
I will say, one thing that is a draw back -- my sister has a Sixxix cutter, that can cut fabric, vinyl, paper, etc. and she is able to download shapes from the internet and her cutter can cut them out. She had me send her Sunbonnet Sue templates from my EQ7, and just from that PDF file she was able to have her machine cut all the pieces...vs. I would have had to buy the templates for $33 each (one for Sue's pieces, one for the Sam pieces) or cut by hand. Now, I don't know the quality of the cuts, how many layers at a time, or anything like that, but I have to admit to a little bit of cutter envy there!
Bottom line, though, whatever shape you'll use the most, that's the one(s) to get first and then just add as needed.