Cricut Fun!

When our daughter gave me her Cricut machine in November she probably did not know she was creating a monster!  Or at least, not really a monster but someone who wanted to learn many new things.  YouTube crafters are so generous with their own skills and share them with the world. I have been greatly blessed by them and learned so many new things to make.

One thing I wanted to learn was how to make a message with text sort of blurred together. I discovered that with Cricut Craft Room software you could make your own sentiments in a variety of fonts and, it turns out, weld them together!  Because I was invited to a baby shower weeks ago I found some colored onesies, something way new since my day!  I thought it would be great if I could cut fabric with the Cricut.  On YouTube I found out that you could.

My first effort cutting fabric was with some very cheap low-grade fabric, which did not work well…as one should expect.  It is MUCH smarter to save your money and buy quality everything.  You are much more likely to have successful projects.

So, after several trial-and-error attempts, I learned that the first step for success is to put several coats of spray starch on fabric pieces.  Step two is to use sticky fabric glue sheets such as Heat and Bond Ultra or Steam A Seam2 on the wrong side of the starched fabric pieces being sure to leave the gridded paper on the glue sheet.  Step three:  place the gridded paper side of the glue/fabric/starch sandwich on a VERY sticky Cricut mat (fabric side up).  Be sure to carefully rub the fabric piece well onto the sticky side of the mat so you do not add wrinkles to the fabric.  Finally, you are ready to cut. I asked the Cricut to cut twice which worked very well.
Here is the completed onesie:

Babycakes Onesie

One thing I learned at the end of this project is that perhaps I should have used plain fabric for the welded text (rather than the richly printed purple fabric) to make it more legible. The photograph actually makes the text more readable than it is in person.  I foresee using this Cricut more and more…