Cutting and Sewing up a Storm

Discovering how easy it is to cut fabric I've been cutting anything I can get my hands on!  I was particularly pleased to discover that I could cut felt - as the general feeling seemed to be that felt wouldn't work.

But quality wool felt, with Heat n Bond on the back cuts like a dream!  Hurrah.

My biggest recommendation is to make sure your blade is sharp (I now keep my fabric blade separate from my paper blade, it's marked with a Sharpie pen so I can identify it easily.) and that your mat is sticky.


Also, I've found the world seems split on whether or not the Heat n Bond backing sheet should be removed before the fabric/felt is put on the mat - and I fall firmly in the 'remove it' camp.  It helps the fabric stick to the mat and (for me) results in a cleaner cut.


The banners are some basic tag shapes - I removed the holes using the 'hide contour' feature in CCR.  I used a simple label shape (might have been from Craft Room Basics)(but any would do), and the letters are the shadow from Cricut Alphabet.

The fabrics are all Tilda fabrics - a beautiful range of read, white and green patterns.

To give a finished look to the banners, I actually applied the Heat n Bond to the stripey fabric, ironed that on to some red backing fabric BEFORE CUTTING.  I decided that cutting the pieces separately would waste Heat n Bond (and time).  That did make it harder for the fabric to stick to the mat so I needed to use my stickiest mat for these shapes.  It worked alright for the basic tag shape but I'm not convinced the same technique would work too well with complicated cutting.

Would love to stay and chat but I've got more fabric to cut!!!!