Have you seen this?! SQUEAL! RED! I've been waiting for this color rotary cutter. This new color will not be out until February but you might be lucky enough to win one before then. OLFA is giving away two of these Ruby Red rotary cutters everyday over on Facebook. Click here. I love Olfa rotary cutters. I've tried other brands and have been disappointed every time.
My first Olfa rotary cutter was a gift from my parents way back in the early 90's. Back then I was a stay at home mom with 3 kids and very little extra money. I had been making quilted wall hangings and had expressed an interest in making larger quilts and purchasing a rotary cutter and mat when I could find the extra money in the budget. Well my dad is the best gift giver ever. He listens when people talk and makes mental notes. I didn't even remember telling him I wanted a rotary cutter and mat. But he remembered. I'm not sure if it was a birthday or Christmas gift but little did I know at the time how this one gift would alter the course of my life. The quilting bug seed was planted. The large yellow rotary cutter below has many miles on her and she's still going strong. Nowadays she rarely sees any action because she is now my paper cutter. Believe it or not the purple one(I don't like purple) is the one I use the most. It has an Endurance blade, which is worth the extra money. The rest of them just hang around looking pretty for the most part. I use them if the purple one is hiding or as props in blog pictures.
Olfa products stand up to the test of time. My first cutting mat was also an OLFA. It was still going strong when I gave it to a friend in 2011. She wanted to learn to quilt but did't want to put out a bunch of money for a hobby she wasn't sure she would like. I've had several cutting mats since. One or two a year! Well some of them never even seen my cutting table. They were purchased online. When they arrived they smelled so bad I couldn't even take them out of the packaging. Some I thought were great deals. Well great deals are not so great if they don't last. The mats I'm using now are okay. Not as good as OLFA but not as bad as others. When my current mats wear out I going back to OLFA.
I've also fallen in love with their new frosted rulers. These are awesome! I recently received this 6.5" frosted ruler as a gift. I was leery of the frosting, thinking it was going to be hard to see the fabric.
But much to my surprise I had no trouble seeing through the frosting. The frosting has a little texture and this stops the ruler from sliding. LOVE IT! The lines on the ruler are thin, which makes the cuts more accurate. I also love that the numbers are not covering up important lines on the ruler.
So on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the worst. I give this ruler a 9. The reason for the 9, there's always room for improvement, nothing is without flaws. I never give a perfect score on anything. How could it be improved? I really can't think of a thing that would make this ruler any better. But that doesn't mean someone else doesn't have a great idea.
Does anyone else share my love of OLFA?
The first cutter I had was another brand, it was ok since I didn't know any better. Then I bought the Olfa and the other sits in a drawer somewhere! I have several Olfa cutters now and theirs are the only mats I will use too. Don't like the others.
ReplyDeleteI love Olfa too - I have one that is't and truly ready to toss it in the trash and even though I tried it for a little while I am back to my Olfa blue
ReplyDeleteI do love the Olfa rotary cutters and have 4 sizes, but about 9 Olfa cutters and a few other brands that i use for paper cutting. The best cutting mat I have owned is the Big-Mat (on Etsy), which is a white mat and really self healing. I have had other mats that cut grooves over time into the mats and I won't buy those again! I have had the Havel pink mat too which is pink and it is a nice mat and thicker and heavier than other mats, but the white Big-Mat is thin and the rotary cutter just glides through it so nicely! First saw this mat at a quilt show and loved it and then ended up buying it later online. Best mat and purchase I ever made. I hear they never wear out. Most other mats the markings wear out, even if the mat doesn't, but the Big Mat reviewers say they have had theirs for years and no issues. The only issue I have is cutting white fabric on a white mat, hard to see. But then I still have my pink mat for that. I don't need another rotary cutter, so I don't need to enter the contest for that.
ReplyDeleteI too am an OLFA fan. I started quilting with Olfa (cutter and mat) and still think it's the best. Unfortunately I don't have facebook, so I can't sign up for their giveaway. :-(
ReplyDeleteI bought Olfa mats, cutters & rulers when I first started quilting. I love them all. The only other brand I have is the Omni Edge - it has a "lip" that slides over the top of my mat. Great for cutting WOF strips. I've looked at other rulers but they are so cluttered with markings that it's hard to find the right line or align with the seam when I mark my quilt. I'll stick with Olfa.
ReplyDeleteI still have my original Olfa mat, a 6x18, purchased at WalMart for $3.89 in 1981, along with the 28 mm cutter. I wish they still made that size mat! Mine is starting to look a bit abused. I use them for cutting out garments, sliding the mat along under the pattern, and rotary cut away. I have covered the top of my sewing, cutting and embroidering stations with Olfa mats. I wouldn't consider any other brand.
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