Well – I finally opened the box of my new Cricut Maker.
So exciting!
But I’ll be honest – we got off to a bit of a rocky start.
The Design Space app didn’t install automatically and the link to click to continue the installation was a dead end to a nonexistent page. Not a huge deal – I know how to find my files and install them myself, but it’s the kind of thing that really frustrates a person who’s not super comfortable with technology so I thought it was worth mentioning.
They include some materials for your first project (a card) which is great. It let me walk through all the steps of making (not designing) and actual thing.
Designing was TRICKY. That’s going to take some practice – but I managed to get my first project (those bears in the hills) all set up and ready to go.
Time to cut some felt!
Uh oh. That does NOT look good.
I cut it on the felt setting and this was actually the second try with increased pressure. The first try just roughed up the surface of the felt without actually cutting anything.
I decided to lie to the machine and tell it I was cutting heavy fabric like denim. That prompted me to change it to the teeny tiny rotary blade instead of the knife blade.
Much better!
Look how clean the cuts are! And see the eye markings? The machine did that too with the pen attachment. So handy!
After I got the settings figured out I was on a roll. 🙂
I cut all the pieces for my new Bears in the Hills in about an hour – while I was cleaning my studio. 🙂
Next week I’ll have a video showing you how to layer all these guys up and prep for stitching.
I can’t wait to try the Cricut on regular fabric for applique quilt blocks – that’ll be my next project with the machine.
Happy stitching!
Best,
Wendi
Ohhh I can’t wait to see how this project comes together, the bears and the hills is such a clever idea!!!
Hi Wendi, really interesting reading your 1st attempts with you Cricut Maker, I was the same, left it in the box for a few weeks before attempting to use it !!
My husband & I spent all 1 afternoon playing with it !!
We eventually managed to cut 2 squares of felt !!
We found it cut felt very well but what I wanted it for was to cut reindeers, gingerbread men etc for Christmas makes, but not a clue how to download any of the patterns I already use so I’ve resorted to the scissors !!
They have some tutorials on the Cricut site that show how to download your own designs. Look for the longer webinars, each about an hour long.
So what exact settings do you recommend to cut felt (like the thin kind) please!
I used the heavy fabrics/denim setting and it worked great.
Thanks you so much for this handy tip as I couldn’t cut felt with my rotary cutter as it was only scoring on the felt setting. However when I changed it to the heavy fabrics/denim voila it worked great !! Shame we don’t get better instructions with the Cricut Maker.
Thank you for that great tip as I haven’t been able to cut felt either until I changed the setting to heavy fabrics/denim! Thank you so much!
Oh my I am going to try this. I have tried EVERYTHING and can not get mine to cut felt even with the rotary blade.
What mat did you use with the heavy fabrics setting and rotary blade?
I used the pink extra-sticky fabric mat.
Do you have a recommendation for the kind of felt to buy? Would the thinner but stiffer felt (acrylic) like you see at the dollar store cut more cleanly than the authentic but softer wool felt? What about when sewing? Does this cheaper felt sew well and have a good finished look? (Never worked with felt before!)
I use wool/rayon blend. You can get the same felt I use here. https://shop.shinyhappyworld.com/collections/tools-supplies/products/wool-blend-felt-sheets-and-matching-thread I do NOT recommend the inexpensive felt you can get at most big box stores. It may cut well (I’ve never tried it) but it’s acrylic and pills really quickly, and really badly. The last time I used it my project looked shabby and bad before I was even finished making it – so I haven’t used it in a long time.
I just started a project cutting felt and used the heavy fabric setting as suggested and it tore up my mats. I now have tried the felt setting on more pressure and switching the tool to the rotary blade and it’s cutting beautifully! Just a suggestion to maybe save your mats.
Did you have to use a stabilizer on your felt? Ive been looking and looking for a faster way to cut my felt than by hand, but I dont want to use a stabilizer. If I make a children’s mask, I dont want the stabilizer showing or rubbing the child’s face. I dont want to invest money in a machine that wont do what I need it to.
No – I didn’t use any kind of stabilizer.
Hi, Wendy! This helps a lot!! Thank you! No wonder I can’t cut my felt cloth, because I only choose the felt setting. Now I know what I’m gonna do! Xx
Where did you find the pattern for the bears? Is it in the software ? My hardest thing after opening the box was finding the patterns I was in canvas instead of home it was so frustrating. I watched so many videos but no one mentioned that. What a relief when I caught on. Your bears are adorable
I designed the bears pattern. 🙂 You can get it here. https://shiny-happy-world.teachable.com/p/bears-in-the-hills
My attempts at cutting felt we just like your first photos. Very frustrating. Thank you for sharing your solution!