Rotary Cutter vs Scissors: The Beginner’s Guide
A lot of people are split in the fashions and costuming industry and there is a war between the rotary cutter vs scissors. When people first start out sewing, usually use scissors and that’s totally cool.
After getting to a point, Where starting to cut out a whole lot of fabric in the sewing game, the arm and hand gets tired from the constant munch across the fabric. To step up the game rotary cutter comes in.
A rotary cutter is better for sharp and flawless cutting while a scissor is used preferably for tiny detailing curve cuts. The rotary cutter can be used for the big curves but not for sharp ones. So, the direct answer of rotary cutter vs scissors varies from work to work and user to user. In this article, we have explained details of points you can consider.
What is Rotary Cutter
A rotary cutter is basically a single blade that is circular and hooked on to a handheld handle. Basically, the user just drops down the little handle or presses the handle blade pops out and the user just slides across the fabric. On a self-healing cutting mat, the processing should be done. There is a diversity of rotary cutter in terms of hand. so the cutter should be suitable for the correct hand.
Brief comparison table of Rotary Cutter vs Scissors
| Points | Scissors | Rotary Cutter |
| Price | Scissors are more efficient in terms of cost, Scissors can be sharped and use again and again, the build material of scissors are long-lasting as well. | The rotary cutter is not that efficient when it comes to price. The blades of the rotary cutter get blunt too early and the blades are not shareable. |
| Comfort | Most of the handles of scissors are made for comfortably cutting. | Super comfortable |
| Speed | Scissors cutting speed is extremely low compare to the rotary cutter | The speed of a rotary cutter for cutting fabric is way better than any other tool. |
| Cutting | Better for curve cutting | Straight and finished cutting |
| Hand Fatigue | It takes a long time to cut fabric after a certain and repetitive use. | People love rotary cutter as it doesn’t take too much effort to cut and the hold is also comfortable. Users also don’t feel hand fatigue. |
| Safety | much safer, rarely cause any incident | safe but, if the user not aware when holding the scale can cause an incident. |
Some other beneficiary comparison (rotary cutter vs scissors).
| Features | Scissors | Rotary cutter |
| Fabrics positive for | Faux fur, Heavy coating fabrics, Denim, Linen, Sequins, Silks | Quilting cotton, Knits, Leather, Silks |
| Best Choice | Knife Edge Bent Gingher | Fiskars Classic Stick Rotary Cutter |
| Project | A small project is preferable for scissor | Bigg project is preferred for Rotary cutter but there should be a scissor as well. |
What are Rotary cutter used for?
Rotary cutter used for cutting fabric for quilting and sewing purpose. That item is easy to use and efficient as well. By using a rotary cutter, a quilter can reduce the working time hugely.
Although rotary cutter has some limitations, people love to use it for a huge number of benefits. In terms of work facilities, people love to have a combination of scissor and rotary cutter since the rotary cutter is not perfect for tiny curve and cutting based design.
How much is a rotary cutter?
When it comes to the price of the rotary cutter, the price range varies from brand to brand and as well as from size of the cutter to size.
The lowest rotary cutter in the market is around dollar 10 and the highest can goes up to 150 dollars. some known brands of rotary cutters are Olfa, Fiskars, Gingher, and so on.
Does a mat is needed to use a rotary cutter?
A must material to use a rotary cutter is a mat since the cutter can cut anything down the blades. People generally maintain their sewing table because a rugged Table is not suitable for sewing or quilting.
On the rugged table, fabrics can be damaged as well. So that, a mat protects from every kind of damage of rotary cutter. The mat is specially made for tolerating the blade of the rotary cutter. so do not need to worry about the mat.
One more thing that is an important consideration of the mat for a rotary cutter is the size of the mat. as the rotary cutter is used to cut big fabric, the mat should be as big as possible to get a better outcome.
What is the best tool for cutting fabric?
From all the tools, tailor share is the best tool for cutting fabric. This is a part of scissor but i specified it as there is a different kind of scissors, even in the sewing and quilting category, there is a number of option.
shares can cut any types of fabric. The dressmaking scissor is perfect for low weight fabric but cause issue when it comes to weighted fabrics.
On the other hand, A Rotary cutter is user-friendly and consumes less working time but can’t be used for every type of fabric.
Are scissors or a rotary cutter better for traveling?
For traveling purpose, scissor is the best choice as it doesn’t need any additional tool but rotary cutter can’t be used without the dedicated mat and the scale to lining the cut.
The traveler always prefers to be efficient in terms of weight of their stuff and the dimension as well So scissor is the perfect choice for the travelers.
If any traveler love to use the rotary cutter, outside their home, they can get a small mat and scale. Olfa 6×8 inch rotary mat and cottage mills scale is best choice for travelers.
In Conclusion
A lot of people only prefer scissors over rotary cutters for various reasons. To be honest, there’s not a lot. it boils down to personal preference and whichever you want to do personally. I am a huge fan of the rotary cutter because it’s faster and it’s easier to line up your patterns and cut. But I know rotary cutter can’t be used every point of sewing and quilting. So that, I will suggest newbies start with scissors as at that time price is a point to be noticed and when you get comfortable with the sewing world, you can add a rotary cutter in your pouch.
