Sizzix Revisited

A few years back, when die-cut fabric machines were still a relatively new thing, I reviewed the Sizzix BigShot. I was a fan and coerced most of my Sydney friends that they needed one too. I loved the expediency and ease of the cutting, the smart shapes, the lack of dog ears and the ability to spend my sewing time doing the parts of the process that I enjoyed. I had tried a competitor's product which left me flat, but the Sizzix won me over.

Die-cut machines aren't for everyone, but I like to do quilts heavy on the repetition, so they suit my style. For years, I unintentionally worked the word Sizzix into every coffee outing or guild meeting. I had a few grumbles, of course. At the time, I was terribly put off by the purple color and limited die range. All-in-all though, I loved my machine.

It took my close friends by surprise when about seven months ago, I told them that I selling my BigShot and all of my dies. At the time, it made sense. I wasn't making big quilts. I wasn't yet working with Express Publications and we were thinking of moving to a caravan. Diecut machines and their accompaniments are be bulky. My die collection took up more space that my fabric. So I sold my machine seven months ago and hand-delivered it to a quilter in Canberra.

That was a mistake.

In those seven months, I'm embarrassed to admit how many times I've pulled out fabric for simple projects - HSTs, squares and the like - then put it back away because I wasn't feeling the urge to rotary cut. Over time, I realized just how much I missed my die-cut machine.

I'm supposed to be saving for a trip to Japan - I'm headed to the Yokohama quilt show next week - but I went ahead and forked over my savings card at the Stitches&Craft Fair on Thursday and walked out the door with another BigShot.

The good news in this story is that the BigShot has been repackaged - no longer purple and bedazzled, nor mint green and butterfly-friendly. Sizzix has finally landed on a mature coloration and design with Fabi, the BigShot range targeted at quilters and sewists. My sewing space doubles as our living room, and the mushroom grey and aqua fits in perfectly.

I'm also pleased to say that the Sizzix machine still works great. After a brief foray into hollow dies with wood guards that caused me a few problems a few years back, Sizzix has returned to the high quality solid foam dies that hold up in use again and again. The new cutting mats that come with the Fabi are tapered to make cutting even easier - not that it was hard before.

I've played with the new machine for a few days now cutting both felt and fabric. I'm utterly pleased. I had so much joy cutting that my husband actually said "wow. you look so happy. you should keep going and cut _all_ your fabric into shapes."

I'm trying to be a bit more selective on my die purchases this time around. I've got a better sense of which ones I use regularly. I started with two extra-long boards for cutting 2in and 3in finished half-square triangles which quickly and accurately cut through eight layers of fabric without balking. That means with the extra-long 2in finished half-square-triangle die, I can cut 112 triangles in one pass. You might remember how quickly, I turned out this 3in triangle number?

The Fabi came packaged with a flower cutting die. I'm not really a flower girl, but I played around and found that with clever placement, I can make clouds and raindrops too. To be honest though, I'm not sure how much use that die will get. If anyone has seen any clever uses of it, I'd love to see them.

The Sizzix isn't the answer to all my shape cutting needs. I'd still love to be able to cut customized curved and speciality shapes to go along for some of my digital quilt designs, but I'm happy to be back on the fast cutting horse.

Have you ever loved something, then foolishly gotten rid of it only to buy it again??


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If you're in the market for a Sizzix, I bought mine from Annie's Designs. They are currently holding a sale up to 20% off dies online. This isn't a sponsored or affiliate post, just sharing a shop that I like!!