A Quilting Ruler With Everything

A review of Non-Slip Rulers from Creative Grids (UK) Ltd.

Creative Grids Non-Slip Rulers

Are you still looking for the perfect ruler to use with your rotary cutter?

If I could compare all the rulers on the market with a list of all the features I want in a general purpose ruler, I think very few companies would survive the comparison. Within the surviving companies, I'd probably have to buy more than one of their products to get everything I want.

But the new line of Creative Grids Non-Slip Rulers changes all that. Each of these rulers has all the features a quilter needs.

Funny, now that I can get everything I want in one ruler, I want to buy several! But that's another story....

Unique Features

Creative Grids rulers come in many sizes. I chose the 6- by 12-inch model, and it's just about perfect. I fold my fabric selvage-to-selvage then fold again, fold-to-selvage, leaving me with folded fabric just under 12 inches wide. The 6x12 ruler is just the right length for my folded fabric.

One of the unique features of this ruler is the built-in non-slip dots every inch around all four sides of the ruler. When I put the ruler on my fabric, it stays put without slipping. The non-slip dots are completely flat so the ruler doesn't rise above the fabric, giving me a clean and accurate cut.

Another unique feature of this ruler is the lines. The dashed lines are printed in both black and white, making them easy to see on both light and dark fabric. Most other ruler manufacturers print either light or dark lines.

Since the Creative Grids ruler lines are dashed, the spaces between the dashes let you align the ruler precisely along the edge of the fabric to ensure a more accurate cut.

Reading The Markings

All of the lines on the ruler along the 12-inch edge are marked in 1/8-inch increments. But these lines don't seem at all cluttered or hard to read.

The inch numbers printed on the ruler are black in the center of a white dot, making them easy to read on all fabric colors. The inch numbers along the 6-inch side are printed from both directions, making it easy for left-handed quilters to read and cut the proper size.

In addition, Creative Grids provides two sets of angle lines for 30-, 45-, and 60-degree angles going in opposite directions. So it doesn't matter if you are right- or left-handed, you should find at least one set of lines that is comfortable to use.

Always Close At Hand

Even though this is a relatively small ruler, it comes with a hanging hole so I can put it up out of the way. But this is such a handy size I doubt this ruler will ever make it off my cutting board.

In addition to the 6x12 ruler, Creative Grids makes rulers in six other sizes marked in inches, plus two sizes marked in millimeters. Creative Grids also makes non-slip squares, circles, triangles, and hexagons.

Creative Grids is a British company that makes an excellent product. I'm sure you will be seeing a lot more of these rulers as quilters everywhere discover their virtues.

Special thanks to The Moses House Quilt Shop in Keene, New Hampshire, for helping me get a Creative Grids ruler to review. The Moses House Quilt Shop is a full service quilt shop featuring redwork embroidery books & patterns, reproduction fabrics, and quilting supplies.

Where To Buy: Non-Slip Rulers

Fabrics To Dye For

Rebecca's Quilted Rainbow

Pine Tree Quilt Shop (search for "creative")

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the Non-Slip Rulers forum.