Fussy Cutting Fabric

The term “fussy cutting” tends to scare quilters away from it. The truth is, it is not as fussy as you’d think. A better, less threatening term would be “planned cutting.”

A fussy cut is simply a cut that you “fuss” over a little. Fussy cut pieces are often center pieces of a quilt block, but are not always. Think of a patchwork design like Grandmother’s Flower Garden. If you want the center piece to be a specific motif from another piece of fabric, you will make a fussy cut.

Lots of things can be used for fussy cut pieces. You can select a motif from a piece of fabric to fussy cut. You can also print photographs onto fabric and fussy cut them to make a photo quilt.

Children’s novelty fabrics usually have a lot of good fussy cutting options, too. Cut nursery rhyme characters, animals, or other fun motifs to include in your fussy cut.

Making a fussy cut is easy. You simply trace lightly around a template, then cut out the piece. Using a transparent plastic template makes this even easier because you can move the template around to get perfect placement while viewing the image beneath it. Other translucent items, like freezer paper (which allows a little visibility) or waxed paper are other options.

When you plan to fussy cut photos, remember to size your photos appropriately. You don’t want too much space around the sides of a fussy cut image, but you do need to incorporate enough to consider seam allowances.

So if you have a single head shot that you want to include as a fussy cut, be sure to size it so that it is not too large. A photo that’s too big will lose more facial features when you sew it.

Likewise, a photo that is too small will focus more on the space around the photo than the photo itself. Use care, too, if isolating a single person from a group shot. Again, the photo to be used needs to be large enough to be the focus without losing part of the face due to seam allowances.

Fussy cuts are a good way to make memory quilts or to make I-spy quilts for children. Using fussy cuts in your quilts can tell a story right on your quilt top. They are great conversation pieces and certainly will be enjoyed by all who see them. They’re fun to make too, once you get past the negative connotation of the word “fussy.”

As you see in the examples of using photos for fussy cuts, they do seem a little “fussy.” Look at it through a positive light, though, and you will soon see that it really just involves a little planning.

If using a plastic transparent template, cutting is easy. Place the fabric on top of your rotary mat. Simply hold the template over the area you want to isolate and slice around the edges with your rotary cutter.

Don’t cut more than one piece of fabric at a time unless you feel confident in lining up the images to be cut. Otherwise, it is best to just do one fussy cut at a time. I suppose that could be the “fussiest” part.

If you cannot see through your quilt piece template, you should trace around it onto the front of the fabric. Trace lightly as this may require a couple of tries to get the placement just right. If tracing on dark fabric, use a light colored pen or pencil that will wash away when the quilt is laundered.

Once you try fussy cutting, you will look for ways to include it in other quilt projects because it is fun to do and gives your projects a little extra pizazz!

Watch the short video below to see how to fussy cut diamonds for a quilt:

Rose Smith is passionate about quilting and likes to share her quilting ideas through tutorials and free quilt patterns on her website: Learn How to Quilt

© 2011-, Penny Halgren. This article courtesy of http://www.How-To-Quilt.com. You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.