Fussy Cutting: Tips and Techniques

There are so many fun types of fabric available and a lot of really fun prints, sometimes directional, sometimes not, but they may be prints that you want to somehow use in the design of whatever it is you're making. And this is where a technique known as fussy cutting comes in. Fussy cutting is exactly what it sounds like, it's being fussy about how you cut out your fabric. Generally, that means to cut out around a motif or somehow center or use a motif in your pattern pieces. So here's an example of a really fun fabric print here that has these deer heads on there. Now, this can be utilized just by itself in a project, whatever you're going to use it in. And when it comes to a print like this, you want to make sure that it's right side up, because it is a directional print, but that's just in how you line it up. The term fussy cutting refers to if you want to actually use one of these motifs as a decorative element in your project. So I fussy cut around the perimeter, around the outside edge of one of these shapes, and then stitched it in place. So to do fussy cutting, you just take a simple pair of scissors, a rotary cutter, whatever it is you want to use, and you cut around the shape that you want to use. That was how you can incorporate a small little piece like this into your project. If your fabric has much larger sections of it that you want to use, you can still use fussy cutting for a type of fabric like this, as well. Whether you want to cut out maybe just this name tag area and sew this onto something, or you want to cut out this entire, say, photo op section of this fabric and use that, as well. Any way that you're using your scissors to cut out a certain motif or a certain section of your fabric, that's known as fussy cutting. So you can use this technique if you want to add a area of fabric specifically as an embellishment to your project. But there's also a way to use fussy cutting when it comes to garment construction, and this can be either to put a motif or area of fabric where you want it, or to avoid putting it somewhere that you don't want it. So for example, if I have this men's shirt pattern here, and maybe I'm making a really fun shirt, and I want to use this cupcake and cake fabric for maybe a decorative pocket, I want to place my pocket piece somewhere where I cut out exactly what I want. So if I want this little stack of macaroons on my pocket, I'm going to line up my fabric so that the center of whatever motif it is that I want lines up in the center of my pocket piece. So whatever it is I choose to use, I'm going to use a fussy cutting technique to place my pattern piece on the fabric, so when I cut it out, I get exactly the motif I want, exactly where I want it on the pattern piece. You can also use this technique sort of in reverse to avoid putting a fabric motif maybe in a certain area of a dress. So if I have a simple dress pattern like this, this is the top bodice piece of the dress, and maybe I want to make the dress out of this really fun floral fabric. I may want to fussy cut out these pattern pieces so I avoid putting a big flower motif right in the center of this bodice piece. So this goes for whether you're planning out a dress. You don't necessarily want an area of the fabric to be in an unflattering position on your body. That could be for a dress, that could be for a pair of pants, that could be, again, for a shirt or anything you're cutting out. So you want to use, again, this fussy cutting technique to position your pattern piece to where the motifs of the fabric are either placed where you want them to be or placed where you don't want them to be, so you're happier with the end result of your project. So try out some fussy cutting next time you're planning out your pattern, and I think you're going to like the way your fabric looks a little bit better.