Friend Jaye sends me interesting links about using the Cricut for quilting stuff. And this time it was about using Electric Quilt 8 appliqué images with the Cricut. I thought it would be worth the time to give it a try. I chose the fabrics, all prints, except the grey and very light grey and ironed on some lightweight fusible web on the back. I downloaded the file at the link and imported it into the Cricut design space software as an .svg file. I resized it in the program (didn't have to use Inkscape this time) and was ready to cut in moments.
I misread the instructions and chose as the material fusible fabric, so the tool recommended was the knife blade instead of the rotary cutter. That led to this lovely disaster. Luckily no cuts were actually made in the material before it got all bunched up.
I smoothed it out, chose cotton fusible and with the rotary cutter all was well.
It's funny to me that after the cuts have been made, it's very hard to see that anything has happened right up until you peel back the background and see what's left behind on the mat. You will note that I removed the backing paper and stuck this fusible side down on the mat. Sticky meet sticky.
All the parts got cut out with no problems, I used the picture of the final project to arrange the pieces in the right order.
Pretty cute, huh? Now to fuse it down and stitch the edges. I really like the prints that I chose.
And also now to install my copy of Electric Quilt 8 and see what other appliqué images are available.
What is the difference between fusible fabric and cotton fusible? Obviously, the machine chooses a different knife-like tool, but what else? Are there definitions?
ReplyDeleteI think fusible fabric might be for the super stiff non-sewable kind of fusible which would be more easily cut with the knife vs. the rotary cutter. There might be definitions somewhere, but I honestly haven't searched that out quite yet. I probably should!
ReplyDeleteOf course! I didn't think of that type of material. I am imagining the 'knife' to be more like an Exacto knife?
ReplyDeleteYes, the knife is a teeny exact-o knife. There is a different sized one that is slightly larger for cutting thicker materials like leather and lightweight wood.
ReplyDelete