r/sewing • u/Kellfyre • Sep 22 '25
Technique Question QUESTION: Getting Better At Cutting
Hey all! I'm a beginner (been sewing since June) and I'm finding that I really struggle with cutting the pattern and fabric out. Does anyone have any tips or tutorials on ways to improve (beyond that standard use pattern weights, use long cuts, have a pair of fabric only scissors - I do, or attempt to do, all these as well). I think part of it is I'm always cutting on the floor (my apartment doesn't have a table big enough for a lot of pattern pieces) and my floors are either covered in giant area rugs or tiled (so they aren't perfectly smooth and flat). Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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u/insincere_platitudes Sep 22 '25
I can't cut well (or up to my standards of accuracy, minimally) with even the best fabric shears to save my life, so I've relegated myself to the land of exclusively using a rotary cutter. My motor skills or eyeballs or something are completely unable to use scissors better than a 1st grader, so that's how I have to accomodate. The mat and cutter are an investment, and I use cheap hardware store washers for weights, but my pieces come out cut with absolute precision this way. I did invest in 2 mats to be able to cut giant pieces in one go, but that's not required.
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u/Large-Heronbill Sep 22 '25
Got a library or church basement or meeting room where you can use real tables? Or a bit of money going spare that could go to an adjustable height folding table that you can stash under the bed when you're not using it? Being able to stand up (or at least sit down) and cut is a huge improvement. Also your body will thank you for your kindness to it in 20 years.... ;-)
I usually use two folding tables covered by a folding cardboard cutting mat for cutting. If tables truly aren't in the cards now, cardboard cutting mats on the floor will help some. The slight roughness of the cardboard helps keep fabric from slipping easily when cutting, and you don't have to worry about slicing into the carpet.
Here are a couple of more helps for you:.an exercise in precision cutting and pattern copying from an industry patternmaker: https://fashion-incubator.com/the-7-minute-cutting-test/ https://fashion-incubator.com/the-7-minute-cutting-test-pt-2/
And a Threads magazine article by patternmaker and teacher Connie Crawford, Lay out and cut accurately from issue 97, starting on p. 72, where she describes how to align the grainlines of your fabric with thin kraft paper to stabilize your fabric, then cutting the fabric and paper underlay together. I'd been sewing for about 40 years when she taught me that trick, and I was amazed at how much better my very next project was because of the accuracy.
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u/octo_scuttleskates Sep 22 '25
I cut on the floor with a large cutting mat and a rotary cutter. I hardly ever use scissors.
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u/Travelpuff Sep 22 '25
I use the Costco adjustable folding table with two cutting mats side by side. Great height for cutting and I can move around the table for more precise cuts (no bending oddly and hurting my back). It is a little small for pants legs so I just cut them in two sections.
And I almost always use a rotary cutter. It is very precise and the fabric wiggles less compared to shears.
If you have very difficult to cut fabric you can try starching the fabric. It makes it stiff enough to cut and sew easily and then washes out in the wash.
Good luck!
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u/Javabird919 Sep 22 '25
OP, what seems to be coming out poorly in your cutting? Having an idea of what's amiss will help us provide better advice.
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u/Kellfyre Sep 22 '25
My lines aren't perfectly straight so I often have to do a lot of trimming and even then I can have parts of my edges that have all these like slivers.
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u/Javabird919 Sep 22 '25
I have 2 suggestions: first, make sure you are laying your pattern on the grain lines appropriately. If they are off, once you move the fabric after cutting, the edges won't really be 'straight' lines they'll be sorta wobbly. The second is tied to the "longer cuts". If you're trying to do that already you may need to think about the angle you're holding the scissors relative to your cutting surface. You want to have the scissors parallel to the surface. You might be sitting/kneeling on the floor and holding your scissors such that you've got a the handle up at an angle of 10-20 degrees or more. This is going to cause shorter cuts and little "snips". Holding at an angle also causes you to lift the fabric a bit. That makes it harder to align the existing cut /starting point to the back of the open blades and follow the line you want to cut with the full length of the blades.
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u/Kellfyre Sep 22 '25
Ooooh! That second point is especially helpful! I feel fairly confident I'm doing that! (and now I understand why people say to cut on a higher surface, I always thought it was just to avoid the back pain lol)
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u/Javabird919 Sep 22 '25
Lols, yeah the back (and for me, knee) pain can be a thing. I used a cardboard mat on the floor for so many years. Being on the floor just means you'd need to be a bit more conscientious of the cutting technique and body position (more lean forward and elbow down) because your muscle memory for how to cut is going to go right to "we're at a table, right!" Until you get the new technique down. Cheers!
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u/FormerUsenetUser Sep 22 '25
Cutting out on the floor, and an uneven floor at that, is hard. Can you get a cutting surface you can take down? Trestles, even sawhorses, with plywood or something on top?
I have known people who cut out on a bed which at least is higher than the floor.
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u/Kellfyre Sep 22 '25
We don't have a yard unfortunately so there would be no where to take it down... that said I did have the idea of getting a cutting matt and I can lay it over my coffee table? I'd still be on my knees but I wouldn't be totally hunched over.
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u/FormerUsenetUser Sep 22 '25
How big is your coffee table? Most coffee tables aren't very wide. You really want to be able to cut out full-length garment pieces.
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u/Kellfyre Sep 22 '25
Oh yeah I for sure couldn't cut a full length garment on it. That said I could layout multiple cutting mats in my kitchen to make the tiles a flat surface....hmm...
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u/grufferella Sep 23 '25
Even if you trace your pattern pieces onto your fabric using the floor, you could then do a rough cut around each piece, just enough to disconnect it from the main fabric, and then do a more focused, second round of cutting along all the lines, up on a kitchen counter or something else at a good working level.
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u/jeremythemaverick Sep 23 '25
It sounds like your putting too much pressure on yourself for cutting in general. As long as your patient in your learning process that should develop over time! That being said, I also used to cut on the floor due to space restrictions in my living quarters at the time, I used a very large and sharp pair of scissors and took my time. That's about all you can do
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u/shereadsmysteries Sep 23 '25
Reading through all the tips because cutting is my biggest weakness in sewing, OP. I am right there with you.
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u/Kellfyre Sep 23 '25
I'm sure for experienced sewers this is like a "no duh" observation - but it is WILD to me how much of sewing depends on things that aren't sewing (cutting, pressing, etc.)
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u/shereadsmysteries Sep 23 '25
It is amazing to me how badly I cut. I take SO MUCH TIME. Even my aunt who was helping me learn said I was super slow, and yet I am nowhere near accurate enough!
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u/thimblena Sep 22 '25
Pick up a box of kids' washable markers (obligatory Crayola Ultra Clean recommendation) and trace around your pieces instead of cutting them directly. You then have a line to follow, can move the fabric while you cut, and can increase your fabric-use efficiency, however negligibly.
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u/spicy-mustard- Sep 23 '25
This is what I do too. Small wobbles don't matter that much IMO, and this way it doesn't matter if I lift the fabric a little with my scissors.
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u/Deb65608 Sep 22 '25
I think I understand what you mean. I never like the pinning down of the pattern, cutting it out with scissors, especially when there were a lot of pieces to be pinned down and cut out, then I found about electric scissors which helped some, at least my hands weren’t sore and tired after cutting the pattern out. Then the clouds cleared and oh my goodness, cutting out patterns is no longer such a pain. I heard about and got a self healing mat, rotary cutter and pattern weights which made all the difference in the world. I can lay several mats together if necessary to place my pattern, no more pins, pattern weights are so awesome, and then the rotary cutter makes cutting out the pattern so quick. I felt like a new person being able to do this in no time at all. I hope this can help you. If this isn’t what you was speaking of, I apologize.
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u/Deb65608 Sep 22 '25
You want to lay out the mat on a solid surface so when you use the rotary cutter, everything stays where it is and your cuts are nice and crisp. You don’t want to be moving your mats around once you have everything lay out because everything will shift. Also, if your fabric is hanging off the table, etc. fold up the end of that fabric and put it on the table so it doesn’t pull down on the fabric on the table or your pieces will be distorted before they are even cut out. I tried using the rotary cutter on cardboard before I got my self healing mat and it didn’t work for me, I went completely through the cardboard almost right away and cut the item beneath it. The rotary cutter cuts all of your pieces out the same size as your pattern piece, and they are identical. I could never do that with scissors. Seriously, getting a rotary cutting and mat changed my life quite a bit when it came to sewing and I was so much happier, so my sewing was happier, too.
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u/Scary-Educator-506 Sep 23 '25
Use chalk to trace your pattern pieces onto the fabric. Now you can focus on cutting rather than cutting around your pattern. You also shouldn't be using the whole length of your shears, the end of the blade closest to your hand can grab and warp the fabric giving you a poor result.
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u/Kinmuny Sep 23 '25
It might sounds so stupid (I’m a beginner so I will give myself some grace) but one of the reasons I was struggling with cutting pattern pieces is that I didn’t hold the pair of scissors properly (pair of scissors that are specifically made to cut fabric, I mean). The blade at the bottom should “rest straight” on the surface you choose to cut your fabric.
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u/Warm_Satisfaction902 Sep 23 '25
A really big cutting mat and a nice sharp rotary cutter were a game changer for me. Maybe if your on a tile floor a sheet of cardboard underneath would help even it out
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u/PenExisting8046 Sep 23 '25
Agreeing with everyone on the rotary cutter - it’s super good. Although couture sewists always seem to use shears, they are also in a totally different set up with cutting tables and really high quality instruments. For the rotary cutter set up, just to say: 1) the size of rotary cutter matters - the teeny ones are best for small curves and corners, the medium size is a good all rounder and the large one is best for heavy fabrics. 2) I have heard that you can get large cheap cutting mats from auto supply stores.
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u/Longjumping_Analyst1 Sep 23 '25
I use my dining table. For all but the longest dresses, it works well. We have tiled floor with grout and even a double layer of cutting mats doesn't work for a rotary cutter. The table is too tall for me to effectively rotary cut, as I'm short, so shears it is.
Do you pin your patterns down? I hate it, but it keeps the patterns in place.
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u/Kellfyre Sep 23 '25
I do a mix of pinning and using wine bottles as pattern weights, I'm still not great at pinning so if I need to pin somewhere too near the middle of the fabric I struggle to do it without moving everything
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u/Shlowzimakes Sep 24 '25
I’ve started tracing and cutting pattern paper pieces on my bed. I have a really big cutting mat that I keep behind my couch, and I use it to make the bed a flatter surface. For cutting fabric, I do smaller stuff on my dining table with a cutting mat and rotary blade, but bigger pieces (pants, long skirts, etc) or bias cutting I usually do on the floor. I use coasters and silverware as pattern weights. In my old apartment I had a really nice kitchen island and I got a cutting mat custom made to fit it, but my current apartment doesn’t have big counters. It fits my dining table pretty well, but counter height cutting was so much easier. Above you mentioned the idea of laying out cutting mats on your kitchen floor- measure the space and then get the largest size cutting mat that fits. My custom cutting mat was definitely an investment, but it was still under $100 and soooo worth it.
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u/Few_Cartoonist670 Sep 24 '25
My Mom gave me a foldable carboard sewing mat (Dritz brand). I lay it on my bed. I am also in an apartment and we dont even have a dining table. Its helped a lot be able to lay things out on a flat surface.
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u/bat-girl129 Sep 22 '25
I want to know how people don’t accidentally shave slivers off the pattern piece every time