What's my favorite tool in the sewing rooom?
This is a blog prompt that is left over from last month’s blog challenge. The prompt was what is your favorite tool in the sewing room. I have been quilting a long time, and I have several items which are ‘go to’ standards for me, but today I want to talk to you about one item that has served me well in my workroom - my Cricut cutting machine. The one pictured at right is my Cricut maker, but this is an upgrade. I began with a Cricut Explore Air machine, and upgraded to the Maker when it came out.
As a scrap quilter, I’m working with a limited (in theory, anyway) number of fabrics, and anything that I can do to expand the possibilities is something I look at seriously. This machine allows me the opportunity to play in ways I would never want to do manually.
I was originally gifted a Cricut Explore Air, which (because it was a gift), I experimented with it a lot. I will say that I really have only used this on my fabrics, the vast majority of which have been bought at quilt shops. I did have some successes….
Yes, I did this - on my Explore Air.
I often see questions asked online as to whether this machine or that is better for cutting quilting shapes. The Maker has a whole set of geometric shapes built into it, all of which are completely customizable. Whether you’re looking for a hexie, or a heart, or any shape in between, the Maker has that ability built into it.
It can do more than that…it can cut complex quilt patterns as well. The purple photo at the right is a flimsy that I’ll be talking about later this year. It’s been pieced (OK, it does need another good press!), and it’s ready to be quilted. The pattern is called Moroccan Tiles, and it’s based on a series of drunkard’s path blocks. With the exception of the plain squares, all the blocks in this quilt were cut on a Maker.
When you are cutting solids, you don’t have to worry about matching patterns, but that central black squiggle…that took some finagling. And a call to Cricut’s tech support when I was stuck.
My next Open Sew on Monday (my Monday Mini-session) is later this month, on Januart 25th. If you’re new to the world of Cricut, and you want to learn about how it can help you, take a look at this and think about joining me as I help you get started There’s a link below to the January Mini session on the Cricut Maker.
If you have a quilt project you want personalized with your own fabric, I have a program called the #Makerforquilters program, and I can help you with that, too!
One of my favorite tools in my workroom.
The Cricut skull at the left (I call him Bob) was made using my Island Batik stash of fabrics. It’s a complex cut, and I did have to manipulate the fabric a bit before I set off to cut it. By adding a product called Terial Magic to the fabric (and letting it dry), the fabric takes on the characteristics of paper…which is what the Cricut was designed to cut. The blade on that machine resembled a craft knife - which gave me great results.
When I saw the demo about the Cricut Maker and I couldn’t upgrade fast enough. It was literally love at first sight. The Maker is a superior machine (and no, this isn’t a sponsored post) for quilters because it cuts with a rotary cutter. And the rest, they say, is history.
This quilt block was cut out almost entirely by my Maker. Even the center.