Cutting strips longer than your ruler

What do you do when you need to cut a piece that is longer than your ruler?  You fold the fabric and do a little math.  It's a tiny little bit of math, easy peasy, I promise.

Any ruler can be used to cut a piece that is up to twice as long as the ruler.

·         A 24” inch ruler will allow you to cut lengths up to 48” long.

·         A 12” ruler will allow you to cut lengths 24” or shorter.

As an example, let's cut a 2.5" x 18" strip with a 12" ruler.  I'm demonstrating using a 12" ruler to demonstrate the technique because it's easier to photograph and show details when using the smaller ruler, but this applies to any length up to twice as long as the ruler you have available.

Preliminary Steps

Step 1: Calculate half the required length.  Let’s call this H.

For my example:  half of 18" is 9", so H=9".

Step 2: Cut a strip to the required width. (Refer to this tutorial if you need guidance on measuring and cutting straight strips.)

Make a Decision

At this point you need to decide if you prefer two smaller scraps leftover, or need one longer scrap. 

For example, if I'm cutting 38" strip from a 40" strip, I can end up with two 1" scraps or one 2" scrap.  Do I need that 2" piece or can I live with two 1" pieces to discard?  I'll probably live with the 1" bits.

In a different scenario, suppose I'm cutting a 28" piece from a 40" strip.  I might need the full 12" leftover to cut one 8" piece and one 4" piece as well.  Two 6" scraps won't let me cut both those extra pieces.

I know that looks like math.  The easiest thing to do is buy extra fabric so you deal with the two extra scraps, save them for another project, and cut the extra pieces from extra fabric.  However, that costs extra fabric, and only you know if that's in your budget so I'm giving you options!

I'll show you what to do in each cae.  Remember that in the examples below, I'm cutting 18" strips using a 12" ruler.

OPTION 1 - Two Shorter Scraps

Step 1: Fold the strip in half. (If you cut the strip from a piece of fabric folded selvedge to selvedge, just don’t unfold the strip.)

Step 2: Position your ruler square with the fold, with measurement H on the fold.

Step 3:  Trim away the ends of the strip extending past the end of the ruler

When you open up that fold you should have a piece the length you needed, plus two extra scraps trimmed from the ends.

OPTION 2 - One Longer Scrap

Step 1:  Fold the strip so the length of the top layer is just a little longer than H.  You could try to make that top layer exactly H, but that's a little fussy to do.  Going a smidge over H gives you wiggle room.  I like wiggle room. In the photo below the wiggle room is extra generous because there's unusable selvedge at the end of that top piece, so I'm extending it past H so that bit will be trimmed away too.  

Step 2: Position your ruler square with the fold, with measurement H on the fold.

Step 3:  Trim away the ends of the strip extending past the end of the ruler.  (I just noticed I swept the little trimmed bit of selvedge off before I took the picture below.  It was trimmed, trust me!)

When you open up the fold you should have a piece the length you needed, plus one scrap trimmed from the end.

That's all there is to it!  

As always, please drop your questions or anything you'd like to add in the comments below.

Happy quilting,

Joanne

PS:  Thank you to White Owl Textiles for the fabrics used in this tutorial. Both are from their "Codici" Fundamentals collection.

• Option 1:  Denim (W165-001-555)
• Option 2:  Navy (W165-001-585)