Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've waited a long time for a machine that didn't require dies. It's always driven me insane that you pay a fair amount of money for a cutting machine, then you have to keep paying and paying as you buy dies. I do a good amount of my own design, so a die cutter just wouldn't (pun intended) cut it. Not a problem any more. I make up my design in Photoshop or Illustrator, print the image, and scan the image into the ScanNCut. I scan my fabric (I'm not a scrapbooker; at least, I'm not yet), position the design where I want it on the fabric, and tell the machine to cut it. WOW - no more wobbly cuts that have to be fixed before they're appliquéd. And the ability to make any shape - lettering, silhouettes, anything - if I can draw it, I can cut it. It took me less than an hour to get it set up and figured out. My first project was for my mom - she wanted fabric circles, pinked, in the right size to use as covers for jars of her canned garden produce that she plans to give at Christmas. I drew a circle in Illustrator, added the zigzag effect to get the "pinked" edge, and printed it. I scanned the print on the SnC (BTW, Brother knows this is a pain, and they're working on making it easier), scanned the fabric, positioned the design on the fabric, and set the machine to cut. This sounds like it must take forever, but, really, it's faster than drawing the circles on the fabric and cutting them manually with pinking shears. I had the whole bunch finished in about 5 minutes, and they were perfect - lots better than manual cuts. I think this is a great thing - Brother hits another home run with this one.