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Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut
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Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 7/1/2009 10:27:32 AM
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GinaC
Posts: 2
Joined: 7/1/2009
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Hello Everyone
I need help.. I am trying to make shirts for my sister's as a support for my sister who just was diagnosed with Leukemia.. I want to put her name on the back of all of the shirts with a heart.
I am using 100% cotton fabric and ironed on steam a seam 2 (as i saw in a tutorial on utube) and then taped it face down on the cutting mat. Used 6 on my blade and med speed.. and even tried the multi cut. It's pulling the fabric so that the cuts are not all around the letters and then it pulls and gets stuck under the blade all together.
Can anyone help me!
Thank you
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 7/1/2009 11:57:53 AM
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Ladida
Posts: 95
Joined: 2/16/2008
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Sorry that I can't help.
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 7/1/2009 12:05:44 PM
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AZdizzylady
Posts: 2855
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Here is a post with tips I copied and saved for my files for future use - hope it helps you out! So sorry about your sister, my heart goes out for the whole family!
Cutting fabric with cricut
1. I used 100 cotton poplin fabric, but you could use anything that is cotton. Pre-wash your item with NO fabric softener and with your fabric. After you have washed your fabric, adhere Heat-n-Bond to your fabric. DO NOT USE PELLON....IT DOES NOT WORK! :) It is too "stringy" and will stick to your mat. Okay, enough of that. You can get Heat-n-Bond in the fabric store, or they also sell it in the crafting section at Walmart pre cut (near the sewing notions". Do NOT let them talk you into Pellon.
2. Peel the paper backing off the fabric and adhere it to your mat. Take your scraper thingy from the tool kit (I'm so professional!) and smooth it on the mat nice and tight. This will ensure that you will get good clean cuts. This is a VERY important step.
3. Here are the settings for your machine. Put the blade on 5, the speed on the lowest and the pressure to max. This will ensure that you will not go too fast and pull your fabric. If you have made sure to rub your fabric really well on the mat, this should not be a problem. I suggest using a NEW BLADE if possible. In fact, I have a "fabric" blade that I use only when I cut fabrics out.
4. I cut my images on portrait mode on the Expression. Most of them were 8-10" high. I tried to use the least intricate designs as I could, but one of the boys HAD to have a tiger. (You should have seen 5 boys piled into my craft room rummaging through my Cricut stuff!) On his, what I did with the tiger, and the Zebra for that matter was to cute the "shift" version, or the shadow version. On the Zebra, their shirts were white and I cut the Zebra in black on the shadow (shift) function and it worked out great.
5. I also practiced on paper first to make sure that my sizes were good. I bought the t-shirts at Walmart for $4.50 a piece in the men's section. They were Hanes 100% cotton and worked great. Honestly, the hardest part of the whole thing was figuring out the settings and which bonding material to use. After that they went really fast.
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 7/1/2009 12:07:44 PM
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AZdizzylady
Posts: 2855
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Oh if you were wondering - the original post had a picture of the kids in the shirts - they were animal designs - too cute! The "kids" were high school age!
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 7/1/2009 12:51:12 PM
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GinaC
Posts: 2
Joined: 7/1/2009
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Is Steam a Seam the same as the Heat Bond? She didn't say anything about having to tape the fabric down huh? the tutorial I saw online she used blue painters tape to hold it to the matt
thanks for your help.. guess I have to go get heat bond now...
Thanks for the well wishes.. its going to be a tough road but we are all trying to be positive.. I think the shirts will help.
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 7/1/2009 2:24:11 PM
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AZdizzylady
Posts: 2855
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No, Steam a Seam isn't the same. Heat Bond and other iron on fabric stablizers are ironed on to the back of the fabric, it would be like adding a paper layer to the back of tissue paper - it covers the entire surface evenly and gives it body - so it sticks to the cricut mat firmly and helps the cricut cut more accurately.
I have used painters tape to hold the edges of paper, vinyl and pre-backed (stabilized) fabric and chipboard more firmly to the mat - but it only helps adhere the edges to the mat, the center area needs to be stuck firmly too - thus using a stickier mat with stabilized fabric will be best.
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 7/2/2009 9:59:57 AM
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Princessaam
Posts: 2502
Joined: 4/20/2009
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I use Heat Bond (no sew) and a newer mat and a newer blade. No tape. It sticks VERY WELL and the cuts are gorgeous!
Blade 6
Pressure high
Speed Medium
~M
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 7/6/2009 7:46:09 PM
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~LN
Posts: 1938
Joined: 3/22/2009
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Thank You! Thank You!
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RE: Cutting Fabric with Cricut - 7/8/2009 8:24:38 AM
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GinaMacNeill
Posts: 50
Joined: 1/2/2009
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Do you need to use a deep cut blade for fabric, or will the "regular" blade work?
_____________________________
Gina MacNeill
Cricut user since Christmas 2008
Member of the Society for Creative Anachronism
Novice Scrapbooker
Mom to 4 furbabies, and wife to one incredibly supportive but currently out of work husband :-)
http://ginasgoodiesva.etsy.com
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RE: Cutting Fabric with Cricut - 7/8/2009 10:26:54 AM
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happyalice
Posts: 25
Joined: 6/22/2009
Status: offline
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Regular blade.
I bought my E specifically for cutting fabric, and have been having wild success with even the most intricate cuts by first spray starching my material before adhering to the Heat N Bond. By the time the I'm ready to be cut, it actually feels like paper; the starch helps to smooth the fibers together. I use settings pressure 3, speed med, depth 3 and am amazed by the results every time. No painters tape, either.
There was actually an article in the Dec/Jan edition of Quilters Newsletter about using the Cricut to cut appliques, and they recommended using Sta Flo starch, which would require you to actually soak your material first. I've had such good results with the spray starch that I haven't tried that yet.
Alice
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RE: Cutting Fabric with Cricut - 7/17/2009 5:15:18 PM
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JenniferEstes1
Posts: 1
Joined: 7/17/2009
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I am so happy that you have all been able to share your tips with us! I have been wanting to cut fabric with my Cricut but didn't think it was possible. I'm going out to get the needed supplies tomorrow to make some tote bags. Yay!
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RE: Cutting Fabric with Cricut - 7/19/2009 8:12:36 AM
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Ladybub
Posts: 214
Joined: 3/11/2008
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Yay!! this was so helpful. I want to put some cute things from the LAB cart on some beach towels. Hope the starch idea works...thanks
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 7/19/2009 9:36:09 AM
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ckraus
Posts: 1
Joined: 6/15/2009
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I too had much trouble cutting fabric but what really helped me was dipping the fabric in liquid starch beforehand, letting it dry enough until it is slightly damp then ironing it onto wonder under (or i used steam a seam 2). The result was almost perfect and saved me from throwing my cricut out a window. Hope that helps!
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 11/20/2009 10:40:46 AM
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tjbaby
Posts: 104
Joined: 3/25/2009
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Have you seen the freezer paper t-shirts? They produce professional looking t-shirts. Very cheap and very easy. Look on the Cricut craft message board. Search freezer paper t-shirts. I will pray for you sister!!
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 11/20/2009 11:26:33 AM
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SouthernVintage
Posts: 2874
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If you can find the Heat N Bond ULTRA, it is stiffer and works much better for cutting with fabric. JMHO The fabric paints work great too.
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 11/20/2009 7:37:15 PM
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thunderbirdlindy
Posts: 1217
Joined: 2/27/2008
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I you are going to sew thru the appliques like with stipple quilting a quilt, I would use Heat and bond Light. You can sew through that. I made a wallhanging/quilt, and used heat and bond ultra, and my needle would not lock the threads. Skipped stitches, etc. The Light works better for sewing through. I have not tried starching yet, but have found that a new blade and a relatively new mat are a must.
_____________________________
My Blog
http://thunderbirdlindybydesign.blogspot.com/
***See you in the circle***
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 12/26/2009 3:42:45 PM
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TheLoneCrafter
Posts: 2155
Joined: 7/19/2009
From: Nutley: in Jersey
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I'm so happy i did a search for this .. i'll be trying this fabric cutting idea next week an needed to know what to use
Thank You
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 12/26/2009 8:55:33 PM
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lisatresselt
Posts: 1
Joined: 8/28/2009
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: GinaC
Hello Everyone
I need help.. I am trying to make shirts for my sister's as a support for my sister who just was diagnosed with Leukemia.. I want to put her name on the back of all of the shirts with a heart.
I am using 100% cotton fabric and ironed on steam a seam 2 (as i saw in a tutorial on utube) and then taped it face down on the cutting mat. Used 6 on my blade and med speed.. and even tried the multi cut. It's pulling the fabric so that the cuts are not all around the letters and then it pulls and gets stuck under the blade all together.
Can anyone help me!
Thank you
quote:
and
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RE: Cutting Fabric letters with Cricut - 5/2/2010 1:35:06 PM
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CathyBourassa
Posts: 1
Joined: 12/28/2009
Status: offline
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quote:
2. Peel the paper backing off the fabric and adhere it to your mat. Take your scraper thingy from the tool kit (I'm so
Thanks for the help also. I did what you said and increased the letter size to 2" and roly poly letters.
It has finally worked .... been trying off and on since Christmas.
Do you use a special font? Need to make letters and numbers around 1.5" tall.
Or will it only work with bigger items? I only have the one cartridge that it
came with
Thanks again
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Printable Version
I experimented with different settings without success.
I am looking forward to trying it your way, I have some Xmas decorations I want to cut out. Thanks for the advise.
