I go to lots of quilting shows, and the number one question I get from people has to do with big rulers. Mainly: what the heck do I do with this?!? Quilters see a big, long ruler and can't imagine when they might need to use it. I get it. I once was you, before I tried to do something that couldn't be done without a big, long ruler. 

So to prevent you from ever being in a situation where you're starting a project without the ruler you need (the worst possible scenario, right?), I'm going to break down these big, long rulers and tell you exactly what I use them for, when you might need them, and why they're actually necessary.

First up: The Quilters Select 18" square ruler

How we're using it: Trimming a panel

The Quilters Select 18" square ruler is a necessity if you love quilting with big panels. It will help you trim big panels so that they're straight on all sides, with the most accurate measurements. 

Squaring Up a Panel: Starting Out

If you're like me, you like your panels straight and even. Unfortunately, as you may have experienced in the past, not all panels are printed straight. This is where our big rulers come in handy. If you're more of a video person, you can click above to watch the video queued to the exact point of the following instructions:

For this tutorial, I used the Quilters Select 18" square ruler. As you can see when I laid it against my printed panel, the panel was not straight.

We know we can trust the ruler—it's made out of a hard, fixed material. Fabric is not! Fabric is fluid and stretchy and changeable. We're going to use our big 18" square ruler and our problem-solving prowess to make those edges straight.

So, I want to do two things:

• Get rid of the selvage
• Make sure I have a consistent amount of fabric from the first line of measurement on the inside (see how those double lines aren't consistent across the top? No good!)

This is where you're probably going, "OoOhhHh, that's why I need a big 'ol ruler." The Quilters Select 18" square lets me see across 18-inches-worth of this large panel, and it grips the fabric so I don't have to worry about it slipping around. 

Squaring Up a Panel: Squaring the Corners 

Again, for those who prefer video, click above to see the video queued at the precise moment for the following instructions.

Step 1: Take the 1" line on the Quilters Select ruler and align it with the outside line shown in the panel.

Since the ruler holds my fabric, I can just slide my ruler and fabric downwards to start working on that top alignment. Both ruler and fabric hold fast, so I don't have to worry about that left side falling out of alignment.

Step 2: Now I can work on aligning the top of my panel. I take hold of the fabric and nudge it upward gently, working across the top with tiny tugs until that white outside line aligns with the 1" ruler line.

You have to love the sticky coating on the Quilters Select rulers, because once you set the alignment you want, it holds the fabric in place even as you're working on another area of the fabric. You can see here how I'm moving across the top edge of the fabric, doing tiny tugs on the fabric to bring that white line to the 1" marker.

Pro tip: Don't be afraid to slightly over tug the fabric. The fabric will bounce back a little. 

You may notice that the first side you fixed has shifted a bit. That's normal. For me, it only happened at the corner. You can just do some tiny tugs on the fabric to realign.

Squaring Up a Panel: Cutting the Panel

Click above to watch the following instructions queued in the video. 

Now, with my top and left edge aligned, I can cut along the top and left edge of the panel.

And now I have a perfect inch on that side!

Now all I have to do is repeat that across the remaining corners of my panel. Using my patented tiny tug technique (TTT, patent pending), I can slowly and gently align the panel to that 1" line. The top of my panel was pretty matched, so I just worked on the right side:

And that's it! My panel is now perfectly square on all sides! 

Stay tuned for part two in this series: trimming a panel to size using the Quilters Select 18" square ruler and the Quilters Select 36" x 2.5" yardstick ruler.