I made my first ruler purchase in about 10 years the other day, and it just arrived this morning. What did I get? A 12.5" by 12.5" cutting edge ruler from Fabric Depot. I've wanted something between my 15 by 15 and 6 by 6 omnigrids for a while now, and when I read about these I just had to have one. The selling points? A none slip surface to grip the fabric for you plus an inlaid diamond dust hone to sharpen your cutter blades as you cut.
So, you've heard the hype, what's the scoop? Overall, I think these are a sweet addition to any quilter's arsenal. I won't be ditching my omnigrids anytime soon, but I have the feeling this new ruler will get a lot of use.
The good. I love, love, love the none slip backing on these. Most of my rulers were purchased in the early 90s so this is my 1st experience of none slip even though I know it's been around for a whle. I love not having to exert so much pressure on the ruler to keep it even. It just doesn't slip! With my other rulers I often find that a day with a lot of cutting will result in sore arms and fingers (no, not because I've cut them!) and that as I get tired the ruler slips more and more. I'll keep using this one and see how things go. I may end up needing to get the 6.5 by 24.5 as well! I'm also pretty happy with the sharpening ability. I started off with a cutter that was fairly dull with one small ding in it. After cutting about a dozen 7.5" blocks it was back to normal. Definitely a good feature if like me you don't like buying new blades!
The bad. Well, let's start with the photo. I dropped my ruler on our hardwood kitchen floor as soon as I had it unwrapped. The damage? A dinged corner and the cutting edge popped out! For the price I really didn't expect that. Admittedly I shouldn't have dropped the thing, but come on. I've dropped my omnigrids before and no dings. And glue is cheap. My other complaint is more of a case of over anticipation, not really under delivery. I rolled right off my cutting matte onto our stilestone kitchen island the other day. Resulting in a really dull spot in my blade. About a 1/2" bit that won't cut at all, in fact. Of course I was expecting one pass to clear that all up. It didn't. And I shouldn't be surprised. I think most of us would throw that blade out. Through some cutting with my new ruler I did get it down to about 1/8" that doesn't cut. Not bad. I'll keep at it.
The huh. Each ruler only has one sharpening edge. I just assumed it would be on all 4 sides. I'm not sure if the company's website mentions this as it's all flash and I do most of my browsing on my ipod. Most places I've checked for buying the ruler don't mention anything, though. I'm kind of ambivalent about this. I was expecting it on all sides so I'm a little disappointed but on the other hand I realize that using the sharpening side all the time might be a little hard on your blades and actually wear them down. So, as I said I'm ambivalent on this point.
Overall, though, I'm really chuffed (that would be pleased) with my new ruler and will probably pick up a few more. Now what would most bloggers do at this point? Well, give one away, of course. I'm not sure I have any readers though, and I'm broke, so that's out. If you'd like to sponsor a giveaway, though, and can tell people to enter, let me know! Or if you're reading and think a giveaway of some sort would be awesome and promise to tell people about it, too, let me know and I'll sort something out!
cheers,
C
As a lefty, it makes me sad to hear that the rulers only have 1 sharpening edge. And I'm a little shocked that Happy Zombie really talked these up, bc I think she's a lefty too. Hmm. Or maybe I'm wrong. Or maybe like you said, you don't need to use that side all of the time.
ReplyDeleteI'm very intrigued by them, but I tend to wait for stuff like this to hit JoAnn's so I can buy it cheap. :P
Hi I'm Pat Sloan, I helped design the Sullivans Rulers. We want to thank you for buying our ruler and reviewing it. We are also really sorry you dropped the ruler and had a problem!
ReplyDeleteOur website and my youtube videos do describe and show the ruler, but I can understand the flash wouldn't let you see them.
Lot's of lefts actually cut right handed, which is why my friend Monica was able to use them.
At this time we are looking into making left sided sharpening edges. And due to the construction and additional cost, the edge was only put on the 'most used side'.
Please email me at Pat@Patsloan.com as we want to replace the broken ruler.