With any trade, craft or hobby there are usually sets of tools and equipment that are specific to it. In this article I'd like to explore a few that are integral to making a patchwork quilt, namely, rulers and cutting mats.
Cutting Mats
As a general rule the larger mats are good for cutting large pieces of fabric and small mats are good for small pieces of fabric. Personally, I like to have one of each. My large mat spends most of it's life on my quilting bench whereas the small one works well for workshops and when I'm low workspace.
I tend to prefer the soft self-healing mats over the harder mats as they provide much more control over the cutting process, and thus give me more consistent, straighter cuts.
TIP: When using a soft mat be sure to place it on a hard surface to avoid the mat bending when cutting.
Rulers
There are all kinds of shapes and sizes when it comes to rulers and as time goes you'll no doubt build quite a collection of them. However, I do recommend that you start with a large and small rectangular one as these are the ones you'll use the most, so it's best to invest in these first.
Not all rulers come with a non-slip backing and as a result have a tendency to move around when cutting. I strongly recommend that you consider one with a non-slip backing to prevent the wastage of throwing away good fabric just because an uneven cut made it unusable.
It's also important to consider the color of the ruler. Most commonly quilting rulers are clear, however some have tinting designed to create contrast and make it easier to see certain colored fabric through them. It's definitely worth holding the ruler up against the fabric you intend to use, 'before' you buy it, to make sure that the contrast makes it easier to see the fabric and not harder.
