I have a love/hate relationship with the cutting-out process. I only love cutting out when it’s done. I hate the way we have to either pin the paper to the fabrics or we use weights. Both present challenges.
If you pin, the pins have to be sharp. Sharp pins are almost always super fine. They bend when they meet any resistance at all. So you have the paper pattern, two layers of unyielding duoplex (to a pin at least) meeting a super fine pin. At an angle. In a hurry. It’s the perfect storm. If you use thicker, stronger pins, you will not be happy pinning duoplex at all.
It seems cutting mats are the answer. Or are they? The fabrics slip around and sometimes scoot away just as you are turning a curve or a corner, and you slice off way more than you intend. The weights need to be heavy enough that they don’t slide around. Which means they are quite big…and heavy, too. It’s a better solution than pinning, but not quite perfect.
I have found the perfect solution to the problem. A magnetic cutting mat! Not the very expensive magnetic mats you can buy in the quilt shop, but the DIY version I bought at Princess Auto. (but check out the sources from Dr. Google)
I bought the 24 x 48 size and some magnets that seemed pretty powerful. I was going to buy two mats and cover the whole table, but I decided bra pieces aren’t usually that big. I could move the steel sheet around if I needed to. I slid it onto my table and under my cutting mat
See how I kept it away from the mat edge. I don’t want it catching on any fabrics. It is easy to move in any case.
Now for the test. Will the magnet stay fast to the steel sheet through not just the paper pattern, but two layers of power net, and my thick cutting mat? Yes, it did!! Worked like a charm (or as my friend Margaret would say, worked like a hot damn!)
I am so glad I bought the magnets with the hooks on them, so they will be easy to pick up and move. The steel sheet 24 x 48″ cost 29.99 CAD, and the magnetic hooks were 7.99 for two. Not a bad price for something so useful and convenient!
OK, that’s it for today. I have a new bra to cut out on my new cutting table set-up. Ta-tas for now!
