Geta

Do you avoid fussy cutting because you think it's boring and time consuming? That's what I did for years.
A few days ago, while making some bowls, I found an amazing way to quickly find and cut out the exact motif I want. I am glad to share it here.

First, you have to create a transparent plastic template for your shape; for my bowls I made a hexagon template.
Then you place the template over the fabric, keeping it centered over the desired motif.

Then you have to mark three points on the template - points that you can easily recognize when you have to cut out other identical pieces. See below the black points I marked for my motifs.

Mark with an arrow the top of the template so you know the orientation of the template on fabric (see my black arrow).

You could use for marking something erasable (a pencil or water soluble marker) but a permanent marker is fine too, if you don't have too many "sets" to fussy cut.

Then cut the next piece. Place the template over the desired motif, matching the points on the templates over the corresponding points on the fabric- it takes you 2 seconds and that was the hardest thing of fussy cutting!
Use a rotary cutter and a mat and cut out the pieces.

Geta

If you need a new set, remove the markings, find a new motif to fussy cut and mark other three points.
I used a permanent marker so for the second set I used a marker of a different color.

Geta

If you find difficult to find recognizable points for your motifs, you could even draw a part of the motif and that is all you need - see below the black marking.

Geta

And here are my bowls.
Fussy cutting doesn't scare me anymore!
I hope this helps!

sunrise450

Getta, thank you for the tute! Love your bowl and I will use your tute very soon.

nannyrick

Thanks Geta for a great tutorial!!! I appreciate it.

PaperPrincess

This is the way I do it too, but I put scotch tape (cello tape) on the template in the areas I'm going to mark. I then use a permanent marker. When I'm done, I can just peel the tape with the markings off & reuse the template.

Mariposa

Great ideas here!

Evelynquilts

Thank you so much for sharing

GEMRM

Very simple idea to make cutting exact pieces seem easy. I'll have to try this! Thank you for posting it with such clear directions and pictures.