History of the Rotary Cutter
The first rotary cutter was introduced by the OLFA company in 1979 for garment making, however, it was quickly adopted by quilters. Prior to the invention of the rotary cutter, quilters traced handmade templates of the necessary shapes onto the wrong side of the fabric and added 0.25 inch seam allowances all around.
Templates were often handmade of (cereal box type) cardboard and traced with a pencil. Pieces were usually cut one at a time with scissors which were often not designed for cutting small pieces for patchwork.
The rotary cutter gained almost immediate widespread use among quilters after its introduction and, along with the accompanying development of strip techniques, revolutionized quilting.
The Self Healing Mat
The Rotary Cutter had a but of a problem. It would cut the table surfaces. It wasn't long before a self-healing mat came with the rotary cutter.
Acrylic Rulers
Acrylic rulers became popular in the 1980s after rotary cutters became widespread. Michell and Hopkins experimented with acrylic rulers to help quilters cut straight with rotary cutters. The rulers were marked with measurements. They were also see through.
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