From Janet Wickell,
Your Guide to Quilting.
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The instructions for most quick-pieced quilt patterns direct you to rotary cut strips from selvage to selvage across the fabric's crosswise grain. Before you begin rotary cutting, you'll need to square up one end of the fabric, making its edge a 90-degree angle to the fold.

1. Fold the fabric along its length, selvages together. The fold should be straight, with no puckers. Selvages might not be perfectly aligned. Press.

   If you are working on a small rotary mat, you may need to fold the fabric again, making it four layers deep. Beginning quilters should stick to one fold, because each new fold makes inaccurate cuts more likely.

2. Place the fabric on your rotary mat with the fold near the bottom edge of the mat and the side to be squared on the left. Align a rotary ruler with the folded edge, its left side near the left edge of the fabric.

3. Place a long rotary ruler to the left of the first ruler, edges flush against each other. Check to make sure horizontal lines on both rulers are parallel to the fold.

4. Remove the right-side ruler. Place your hand on the long ruler to hold it firmly in place and roll a rotary cutter from bottom to top along the ruler's right edge. Spread your fingers out to hold the ruler securely, but take care to keep them out of the path of the cutter. The fabric's cut edge should now be at a 90-degree angle to the folded edge.

If you are left handed, work from the opposite side of the fabric, placing rulers in mirror-image positions.