Slotted Rulers-June Tailor vs. Stripology

Do you own a slotted ruler? Do you like it? I hear a lot of opinions online about slotted rulers. I've used June Tailor Shape Cut rulers for at least ten years, but when BluPrint had a site wide sale and as a member I could save 30% off those very expensive Stripology slotted rulers I had heard so much good about, I plunged in and bought all three sizes they offered. Now that I'm familiar with both, I have some opinions and suggestions on both versions. I am not sponsored by anyone, I bought all these rulers myself, so I am being brutally honest in this review. 

Here are my June Tailor rulers. I have the Shape Cut Plus (which is just longer than the original Shape Cut which I've also had in the past), The Quarter Cut ruler, and the Half Square/Quarter Square Ruler.

Here are the three Stripology rulers I purchased from BluPrint. There is the original Striplogy ruler, The Square up Ruler, and The Stripology mini.

I'm going to try to compare the rulers most similar in style and function, but first I'm going to give you some basic differences in the rulers. June Tailor rulers are made of much thinner plastic that the Stripology rulers. I've gone through several over the years. Most I've simply worn out through using them so much, and eventually, on a slotted ruler or really any ruler, you will wear away enough of the enough of the edge that the ruler can no longer give you an accurate cut. Also, one time I dropped a brand new June Tailor ruler and broke the corner off. I actually taped it back together and still use it as a backup, but with the thinner plastic I would think a break from falling is more likely on the June Tailor rulers. That said, June Tailor rulers are also much cheaper than the Stripology rulers. JoAnn Fabrics routinely have the June Tailor rulers on sale or you can use a coupon if they aren't. JoAnn does not carry the Stripology rulers, and you rarely find them on sale. So as far as durability goes, I am going to say Stripology wins, but you are going to pay for that, so if money is your main consideration, you will have to decide whether you'd rather pay more less often on Striplogy rulers, or less more often on June Tailor rulers. Another issue with thinner vs thicker plastic is weight, the Stripology rulers are much heavier, so if that's an issue, now you know which is heavier, which is lighter in weight. 

Another major difference in the rulers is the grip. June Tailor rulers have no grip on the back. They slide across the fabric, and if you don't hold them correctly, they will slip and mess up your cut. Now, there are multiple aftermarket options for adding grip to your rulers, so to me, that's not a big issue with the June Tailor rulers, but then, I have no problems holding the rulers with no added grip. The Stripology rulers have a LOT of grip on the back, which honestly, I kind of hate. I always lift up a ruler to reposition it on fabric, but on huge rulers like these, it's pretty easy to lay it down a little crooked. With a June Tailor ruler, I can nudge it into position because there isn't grip on the back of the ruler. With the Stripology rulers, there is no nudging, that ruler isn't going anywhere, at least not without messing up your layers of fabric.  If you have a problem with rulers slipping while you are cutting, you'll love the Stripology rulers, after you get it lined up correctly on the fabric. 

I have years worth of experience cutting with June Tailor rulers, so what have I cut with the Stripology rulers?

I've cut one quilts worth of strips. I had a twin sized quilt kit that I'm trying to expand into a full or larger sized quilt without buying more fabric. It's all HST's in two sizes, and they had you cut squares at the 7/8" mark and cut the squares diagonally. I know from experience, if I cut on the half inch mark instead, and use my Easy Angle ruler to sub-cut, that those 3/8" differences on each strip usually mean I can get an extra strip from each fabric. Those extra strips add up to a larger quilt. Since I needed different sized strips, I was not using the marks the Stripology rulers have to cut 2.5" or 1.5" strips faster. I was cutting two 4.5" strips, followed by 3  2.5" strips from each fat quarter. I ended up with a string leftover, not even a 1.5" strip. 

Here is the June Tailor Shape Cut Plus ruler next to the original Stripology ruler. The rulers are offset from each other, because I'm trying to show the lengths of the slots. The June Tailor ruler has longer slots and that is really important! I had 45 fat quarters to cut up. I folded the selvage edge to what would have been the fold if the fabric had been WOF. That's a pretty common way to cut, crosswise grain. I grabbed the Stripology ruler and started making my cuts. Remember, I have years of experience using slotted rulers, just this ruler was new to me. My rotary cutter of preference is a 60mm blade, and I had just put in a new blade. When I moved the ruler, not one cut was through top to bottom every single cut was short and I had to use scissors to finish the cuts. I tried the next fat quarter, making extra sure my fabric was centered in the ruler, same thing, not one cut went top to bottom. I decided maybe the larger circumference of the blade was not compatible with the Stripology ruler, so I opened a brand new 45 mm rotary cutter with a brand new blade. Same thing, the slots are simply not long enough to make a cut though a fabric with the selvages meeting the fold. To me, this is a critical design flaw, and I do not recommend the original Stripology ruler. I also don't intend to keep it. 

Next up was the Stripology Squared, and here it is side by side with the Shape Cut Plus. The Striplogy Squared ruler worked great. The slots are actually about 1/2" longer than the June Tailor ruler. I've been told by someone that has the Stripology XL ruler, which I don't have, that the slots in it are the same length as the Stripology Squared. So if you are wanting to buy a Stripology ruler, definitely skip the original version, and go for the Stripology Squared or the XL. The XL ruler is also longer, like my Shape Cut Plus, but I'm not sure of the exact length since I don't have one. Longer rulers are nice if you are cutting a lot of strips since you don't have to reposition as often. If I am cutting a bunch of strips all the same width, I'm going to be using my Studio cutter, and not a slotted ruler at all. I use my slotted rulers most when I need different sized strips. I still had to deal with my dislike of so much grip on the back of the ruler. It wasn't uncommon for me to be 1/8 off the line on one end of the ruler, so I would have to pick up the ruler and try again. After several times of that, I felt like I was wasting a lot of time positioning the ruler, when with the June Tailor ruler I could have lightly nudged it into position and been done cutting. The upside to all the grip on the Stripology rulers is once it's in position, you can hold the ruler quite lightly and it won't budge at all when you are cutting. If you are a ruler positioning pro (which evidently I'm not), but have issues with rulers slipping (which I don't have problems with), the Stripology rulers are right up your alley. That said, I intend to keep using the Stripology Squared, and as with most things, I would imagine I'll get better at using it with practice. 

The Stripology Squared ruler was designed to help you square up quilt blocks, which, honestly, I rarely do. I am all about sewing accurately in the first place, because sliver trimming is right up there with dental work in my world. The June Tailor Half Square/Quarter Square ruler is designed for squaring up much smaller blocks, so it's not a side by side comparison. If you want to easily square up 12" quilt blocks with a slotted ruler, Stripology Squared is the way to go. You can do it with the Shape Cut Plus, but the Stripology Squared has markings the June Tailor ruler doesn't to help you center those large blocks. 

The June Tailor Half Square/Quarter Square ruler is more comparable in size to the Stripology mini. Because they aren't designed for quite the same thing, they have some different options. 

The June Tailor Ruler has a slot just for cutting squares in half on the diagonal. 

It also has slots to draw two lines 1/4" on either side of the diagonal if you prefer sewing lines. 

If I needed to subcut things 6.5" or less away from home, I'd bring the Stripology Mini with me because it's a bit smaller and more durable, less likely to break on the go. The Stripology Mini is also marketed as the ruler to use if you want to cut things on the 1/4" I watched the YouTube video on how to use it for that, and it seems needlessly complicated to me. 

June Tailor has the Quarter Cut ruler for cutting on the quarter inch. The 1/2" slots on the Quarter Cut and the Stripology Mini are the same length. The 1/4" slots on the Quarter Cut are shorter, but since I usually only use it for subcutting, I rarely have an issue with that. The Quarter Cut is almost twice as long as the Stripology Mini, so there's less repositioning of the ruler. For quarter inch cuts, I'd go June Tailor for sure. 

My comparisons may be as clear as mud, because the real questions are how do you use your rulers, what do you need them to do, and what do you personally struggle with when it comes to cutting? For me, my perfect slotted ruler would likely be a combination of the two brands. Some grip on the back would be nice, but for the way I cut, Stripology rulers have too much grip. If you struggle with rulers slipping, the June Tailor rulers would be nightmare, and Stripology might be perfect. Of the three Stripology rulers I currently own, I think the only one I will get a lot of use of is the Stripology Squared. If I get to really like it, maybe someday I'll buy Stripology XL, but it's so big and likely heavy, I think it will make my issues with positioning the ruler even worse, so someday buying the XL is not likely. I wish the June Tailor rulers were made from the same gauge plastic/acrylic as the Stripology rulers. It would be nice to have them last longer. 

I never really noticed I had an issue with positioning rulers before. None that I owned previously can't be nudged an 1/8". Stripology rulers don't nudge, they will skew the fabric every time, at least for me they will. 

Basically, I've come to the conclusion that I'm glad both of these brands exist because different quilters will benefit from each brand. Overall, I'm still a June Tailor girl, but I do plan on giving the Stripology rulers further tries. I can totally see some people preferring the Stripology rulers, but I'm more likely to replace my June Tailor rulers than ever buying another Striplogy one. Hopefully I gave you enough information, to give you an idea of which brand would work better for you.