Grammie Posted June 10, 2006 Report Share Posted June 10, 2006 Do any of you have the ALTO PRO cutting system and if so do you like it? Is there another brand on the Market I should know about or consider. Just wondering if it is worth the expense. Thanks PS. Yes I am working nights so I think up all these questions. lololol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brunerwoman Posted June 10, 2006 Report Share Posted June 10, 2006 i have it and love (loved) it. i cut many quilt pieces with it. it is accurate and safe. but lately it seems i just use the ruler that came with it on another larger table with a huge cutting board. if i am cutting larger pieces the alto seems small. the cutting mat that came with it has many cut "lines" in it now. i have gotten a new mat (larger) that doesn't fit on the alto. and an even larger mat (40x70) that i use on a huge table. my alto "bed" is leaning against the wall. the part i didn't like was the instructions of putting the fabric under the bar and clamping it down. that seemed to take too much time for me. i usually just laid the fabric over it to cut. i have turned the mat over and cut on the other side, but it doesn't have the ruled lines marked, so you need a ruler to measure cuts. all in all, a good product....and, like i said, i used it every day for a year or so. i believe i have just outgrown it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramona-quilter Posted June 10, 2006 Report Share Posted June 10, 2006 Tammie, The local quilt shop has had a few demos on the Alto. The shop owner uses it exclusively now. The mat is quite large, 26 x 47. Comes in 3 sizes. She can easily plow thru 12 pieces of fabric with one swipe so she stacks up 5 or 6 bolts and cuts. It has seriously reduced the cutting time cutting required for strip quilts. Demo is at http://www.quiltcut.com/onlinedemo/onlinedemo.htm The quilters who have bought them are doing some serious piecing. The trick is the blades for the cutter. And yes these blades fit on my Olfa 45mm rotary cutter. These blades are amazingly sharp. And they stay sharp much longer than the Olfa blades do. The only thing stopping me from buying one is where to put it. I already have 3 sizes of the green mat which when, not in use, are kept in a narrow slot next to my bookcase. The Alto is not just a mat, it has the clamp bar, ruler, slide bar and mat. It is not as easy to grab and slap on the table. I think it needs to stay setup on a permanent table. All my horizontal space is occupied. But if I had a nice studio with room for a cutting table, the Alto would be on it. They are a bit pricey but I hear that they 'heal' better than the green mats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Rooster Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 I like mine but most of the time I don't clamp the fabric down the way the instructions indicate I should. It's great when you have alot of strip piecing but for my small projects I don't seem to set it up much. I agree with Ramona-quilter, if you have a place to keep it full time then it would get lots of use. Unfortunatley, mine sits in the box most of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katie.mac Posted June 28, 2006 Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 I recently got one and love it. I bought the original Alto Quilt cut. I do clamp down my fabric and love the way the fabric stays in place during cutting. Worth the few extra minutes to secure it for accurate cutting. I keep mine set up near my sewing machine and use it for all my cutting. Katie McGraw APQS Millennium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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