Everyday Celebrations: no sew

Ready for a break from the 'shop' posts? Me too. I love sharing crafting tutorials with you all and am sorry I haven't done too many as of late. I hope to be better at sharing tutorials and some of the other projects I've been working on.

Yes. You can cut fabric with your Cricut. No. It won't make your machine blow up. But yes, there are some tricks that make it a little easier. So after cutting many a lettering kits I thought I'd share how I cut fabric with the Cricut.

I've owned my Cricut for almost three years and I love it. I purchased it on Black Friday from Walmart.com. About 95% of what I cut with my Cricut is fabric. The Cricut cuts fabric wonderfully and I thought I'd share my technique if anyone out there is attempting this. (I am sure the method is very similar for the Silhouette. Just make sure you use the appropriate fusible webbing that Silhouette recommends.)

Materials

Heat n' Bond Ultrahold (red package) I'm not affiliated with Heat n' Bond, or Cricut for that matter, neither know I exist. Heat n' Bond is the brand that has given me the best results. No, you don't need to sew after using this fusible webbing. Don't use Heat n' Bond Lite (purple package) with the Cricut. I've tried it with the Cricut and haven't had good results. However, I use it all the time when I need a sewable or light-weight fusible fusible webbing. It is still a great product.

You can buy Heat n Bond in 1 yard packs or 5 yard packs. ~~I usually buy my Heat n' Bond at JoAnn's when the notions are 50% off or BOGO. That way it is only about $5.00 each instead of $10.00 each for a 5 yard roll~~. Edit 2/2014: JoAnn's no longer offers Heat n' Bond in the 5 yard packs. However, you can get the 5 yard packs at Walmart in the sewing section for about $7.99 or $8.99.

Fabric - the amount you need depends on your project. For this project I used 1/2 yard cuts of fabric.

I haven't had the best results when I use CHEAP CHEAP fabric, think the FQs at JoAnn's. I've had great results with the stripes, polka dots, and vine fabrics from JoAnn's Keepsake Calicos. (see the title picture above for examples) Designer fabric cuts perfectly.

A new blade or one that HASN'T been used to cut paper. (The Deep Blade and Housing isn't a must for cutting cotton fabrics.) I mark the blades I use for fabric with a Sharpie marker. If you are cutting thicker fabric, then you probably will need the Deep Blade Housing. Edit 2/2014: I have since purchased the Deep Blade Housing and cut fabric just for fun. It works great! If you are having troubles getting a clean cut with the regular blade/housing this could solve your problem. Again, I've had great luck with the regular blade - made a gazillion lettering kits with it, and only mention as an option. Try eBay if you are looking to purchase the Deep Blade Housing. I got an awesome deal that included the housing and several blades for about $20.00 including shipping. (The Deep Blade Housing runs about $24.99 at Hobby Lobby.)

Iron - I bought a cheap iron from Walmart that I use for projects that use fusible webbing/interfacing. This is totally optional, but I ruined the nice iron we got as a wedding gift from such projects.

Directions

Prewashing Fabric
When cutting fabric with my Cricut, I only prewash my fabric if I am going to wash the finished product. If you prewash your fabric, don't dry with fabric softener. After washing, iron with heavy starch. You want your fabric to be as crisp and smooth as possible. The starch helps bring back some of that sheen and smoothness you get with not washed fabric. You don't need to make the fabric super stiff, so just a little is fine.

1. Press your fabric well, very well. You don't want wrinkles or creases at all. Use water or steam to get all wrinkles and creases out.

2. Cut the Heat n' Bond to your desired size. I made 'sheets' of fabric for this project so I cut my Heat n' Bond into 12"x17" sheets. The length is 17" because that is the width of the Heat n ' Bond. I have the 12" x 24" mats so I could make my sheets larger than 12"x12".

3. Adhere to the wrong side of your fabric following the package directions. You want your fabric to be slightly bigger than your piece of webbing. (I just adhered it to the whole 1/2 yard piece of fabric...you just can't see it all.)

4. Flip over the fabric to the right side and press well. The webbing has to be fully-adhered to the fabric or you will not get a good cut.

I made two sheets of each color, here is the view from the back of the fabric:

5. Cut your fabric down to the size of the webbing. I used my rotary cutter and acrylic ruler to make it nice and straight. (I like doing it this way because the webbing doesn't ooze out onto your iron or ironing board.)

Finished sheets after trimming.

6. Again, I like making sure the webbing is fully adhered, especially around the edges. So I just quickly go around the edges with the iron after I've trimmed down my sheets.

7. Now you are ready to cut! I like to prepare all my fabric at once if I am doing a big project, like the lettering kits. So if it has been a few days since adhering the webbing, I will quickly give the sheet a quick iron before placing it on the mat. Totally optional, but it just makes me feel better. Place the sheet on the mat and smooth well with your hands. Cut as desired! I set my pressure to high, blade depth to 5, and speed to slow. You may want to practice on a scrap of fabric with webbing just to see what works best with your fabric and machine.

8. If you are cutting small and intricate shapes/letters there may be a few places where a thread of fabric is holding shape/letter onto the sheet of fabric. Most of the time I can just give the shape/letter a tug and it comes right off the sheet of fabric. Sometimes though, I have to get out my little applique scissors and trim a thread or two. I only have this happen with SMALL letters/shapes. I've NEVER had this happen with larger shapes. Larger shapes separate from the sheet of fabric just like when you are cutting paper.

9. Adhere your letters/shapes to your project following the package directions. If I am adhering to felt, I always use a pressing cloth between the project and my iron. This is because you use a higher temp on your iron to adhere the letter then you would want to use with felt. And yes, felt can and DOES melt...I know from experience. Again, you don't need to sew to reinforce this type of fusible webbing. (That is from the manufacturer, not me.) I've heard you can gum up your needle if you do, my mother's experience. I did try it on my machine and it sewed fine but it isn't something I do regularly. Therefore, I am not going to give you the go to try it on your nice sewing machine.

Hope this helps anyone out there attempting to cut fabric with your Cricut. It really opens up so many possibilities for fabric!

Happy Tuesday,

LeAnne

I love the 4th of July. I have many wonderful memories of this holiday from my childhood. My parents always hosted a Pancake Breakfast on the morning of the 4th. We made hats out of newspaper, decorated our bikes with streamers in the spokes, and of course had lots of blueberry pancakes! It was always a great morning. I remember one year we decided not to host a Pancake Breakfast so no formal invites were sent out. However, some families were so accustomed to coming that people still showed up at our front door!

Too bad this cute idea wasn't around back then because these fun and festive 4th of July Crowns would have been one of the projects at that Pancake Breakfast.

(This project goes way back. I have to give a shout out to my friend Katie who made similar crowns like this for us to wear to HS football games back in the day. We like to say she started a trend at our school with these crowns...they started popping up all over the place after she made them for us!)

A few weeks ago I found this festive garland at the Dollar Tree. I immediately remembered Katie's crowns and knew I had to make some. I made a bunch yesterday, they are a super quick and very festive.

Safety Note: The garland is wired and can be pointy on the end. Be sure that adults cut and twist the wire.

All you need is:
wired star garland (I found mine at the Dollar Tree, 25 feet for a dollar...what a deal!)
curling ribbon
scissors
masking tape

1. Measure around your head, adding some so you can twist the ends together. Cut your desired amount of garland.

2. Twist the ends together. I removed some of the stars from the ends so I could better twist the ends together. The ends of the garland can be pointy. If you are concerned about the pointy ends, you can cover the twisted bunch with tape. (Then cover the tape with the ribbons.)

3. Then, take a shorter length of garland, 6 inches or so, and twist it back and forth through the back covering where you twisted or taped.

4. I made three 'tiers' of ribbon length. (I really didn't measure how long they were, this is just an estimate. Your lengths may vary based on the age you are making the crowns for.)

For the 1st tier I made two bunches of the four colors measuring about two yards in length.
For the 2nd tier I made two bunches of the four colors measuring about one yard in length.
For the 3rd tier I made one bunch of the four colors measuring about 18" in length.

Tie ribbons on to crown so there are equal amounts on each side. Secure with a tight double knot. The last tier can be tied into a loose bow. I only lightly curled some of the ribbons that needed it. Most of the curling ribbon I did not curl.

Quick and so easy! These adorable crowns sparkle, glitter, and shine in the sunshine! Also, they can be made for almost any occasion. Imagine how patriotic these would look for girls to wear welcoming home a family member or friend that has served in the military.