AccuQuilt: Back to Basics, Part 3

We’re celebrating fall with a series of blog posts on the basics of the AccuQuilt system! Today, we’re going to look at how to work with our Block on Board (BOB) dies and GO! Applique Dies. If you missed the earlier posts, you can catch up with Part 1 about the basics of how the fabric cutters, dies and cutting mats all work together. You can check out Part 2 to learn about GO! Strip Cutter Dies and the GO! Qube system.

Have You Met BOB?

BOB is one of AccuQuilt’s most popular innovations! These dies feature all the shapes needed to make a classic (and often complex) quilt block with just one die board. The ability to cut an entire block in a single pass through a cutter makes the concept even sweeter! These dies have all the great features of our geometric shape dies with the 1/4” seam allowances already included, dog-eared corners and more.

BOB dies have screen-printed letters on the die board for each piece to make it simple to organize and sew your blocks. Dog-eared corners are made even better since they’re engineered to make fitting complex shapes together simple!

For blocks that feature curves, the dies are designed to cut notches to line up pieces perfectly. There’s no reason to shy away from sewing curves when you have GO! Dies to do the hard work for you! Just let the die do the hard work and cut the notches.

Next, line up and pin the notches together.

Once pinned together, sew those curved pieces with the the smile on top (the concave edge), simply guiding the fabric through your sewing machine!

For an in-depth look at some of our most popular BOB dies and how they work, here’s a fun class with AccuQuilt Cutting Expert Pam Heller:

Applique Dies Galore

Applique shapes are pure fun! They’re the cherry on top, the jewelry to the outfit and the way to personalize any project or craft, but they’re also the hardest, most time-consuming, and complicated shapes to cut! With so many great shapes and designs to choose from, GO! Applique Dies rescue you from endless tracing and cramping fingers by cutting intricate shapes in a flash.

Unlike most GO! Dies, applique shapes do not include seam allowances. Instead, they are designed for fusible applique versus a turned edge technique. Here’s the basic process for cutting with GO! Applique Dies:

• Iron fusible to the wrong side of the fabric you want to cut.
• Leave the paper backing on the fusible.
• Cut up to four layers of fused fabric at a time.
• Peel the paper off the back and your shape is ready to GO!

From there, the sky’s the limit! You can fuse shapes onto cardstock or gift bags, pre-made projects, like canvas bags or tea towels, or onto quilt blocks. You can cut different materials, including wool, felt, craft foam or cork, adjusting your number of layers according to the thickness of the material you use. You can finish the edges using raw edge applique, any decorative stitch, or an embroidery machine.

That's not all! AccuQuilt offers free, downloadable basic embroidery designs for all non-licensed designer shapes, and more intricate designs are available for purchase. Here’s a video showing the embroidery in action:

From Circles to Snowflakes

Whether you need dozens of circles or a blizzard of snowflakes, AccuQuilt has a die for that. Be sure to download the GO! Cutting Equivalents Chart from AccuQuilt to see at a glance just what dies you could use to cut the shapes you need. It’s a great resource you’re sure to reference again and again.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our Back to Basics series and are ready to dive into some fun new projects! Be sure to share your projects with the hashtag #AccuQuiltBuilt and tag @AccuQuilt on social media, so we can all be inspired!