Week 11: Made It Myself Mondays & Guest Designer

~ Hi There ~

I am so STOCKED about today's POST and LINKING PARTY! I have an awesome guest today. Her post might just ROCK YOUR WORLD if you like playing with fabric as much as I do. This sweet lady emailed me a couple of weeks back wanting to share her technique for CUTTING FABRIC with your CRICUT! She has a FULL PROOF method that she's developed and I am so happy she is willing to SHARE it with us today! 

Sooo without further ado...let me introduce this weeks

GUEST DESIGNER, TRISH! 

Take it away TRISH...

Many of us have the amazing Cricut and now there's a few newer ones by Provo Craft......most of us use it for scrapbooking and card making.....and

some of us have tried to take it a step further and use it for fabric cutting.

LIKE THIS...

YUP, you're eyes aren't deceiving you! I CUT THIS INTRICATE DESIGN WITH MY CRICUT! 

Here's some more SAMPLES...

 Unfortunately not much was spoken about fabric cutting so we had to do

the trial and error thingy and that costs money you not only ruin your fabric

and waste your interfacing or bonding that you have used and then you get

frustrated and the project you had in mind doesnt get done.

So I am going to explain the best steps to take to cut your fabric and get those projects accomplished.

(1) Step one always use a mat for just fabric...take the time and use a marker

and print on the top of the mat cover (FABRIC) and that way when you go

to do your crafts that mat is for fabric only.

(2) Step two… Using an interfacing or bonding product....this is where we get a little antsy and want to hurry up the project so we just pull out what we have on hand.

STOP, think and do with PELLON 800 FUSEABLE WEB. This product is amazing theres no other word for it.....it takes a little more time to use but the results are the best.

I usually get it at JoAnn's fabric store Iam sure you can find it online also, it has to be cut so you buy it by the yard.

(3) Third step...start cutting your fabric to the size of the mat you will be using....then cut your pellon to that size also....follow with ironing your fabric to get wrinkles out.... then apply pellon to the back of fabric, the

pellon has a bumpy side and that side  will be on the back of fabric.

turn both the fabric and pellon over and iron the fabric top...DONOT

iron the pellon side you will have a mess on your iron trust me on that one.

The Third step is the MOST important to follow...PLEASE read a few times before trying...the Pellon comes with instructions .......basically everything

Iam telling you is on there.

(4) Step four ......applying your fabric to the mat.......make sure its on smoothly....you will see some wrinkles, dont get upset they wont show on

the fabric after its cut.

(5) Step Five......setting your Cricut up for the cut......PRESSURE is MAX.....

Speed is MAX...select Multi Cut...and then of course your size......I always have my blade set at 5...and now your ready to hit that button that says CUT.

(6) Step Six........remove your fabric and slowly peel away from mat using your spatula...being careful as you go.......you now have to remove the paper backing from whatever you have cut and you will see a shiny side

which you will iron onto whatever you are going to apply it to......let me explain this a little better......take a straight pin and at any corner just take

the pin and put it underneath the pellon...you will see sometimes its already ready to pull off but sometime you have to give it a little help.

Dont get frustrated...I sometimes just take my fingers and pinch the fabric

and it starts to come off that way.....but this is important so take your time.

(7) Step Seven.......ahhhhh! you did it...now you have a choice to either sew

on to your project or just iron it on...its your choice........depends what your

project is.....for clothing I sew it on and I love the raggy look, which you will

see in some of the pics that I will be showing you....I call it Cricut Applique.

The appliqué above is from the cart Straight from the Nest…..as you can see

It has intricut cuts its one of my favorites…..so don’t be afraid to cut fancy

Designs.

I hope I have made this tutorial simple and explanatory...if you have any questions you can e-mail me at ltl8@verizon.net.......and I will get back to you asap.........Enjoy.........Trish

All I can say is WOW! TRISH! I can't wait to try this ! Thanks SO MUCH for sharing it and being a GUEST DESIGNER on my blog today! Can you believe Trish does NOT have a blog of her own to share more of her genius with us?! Well, we must all remedy this by giving Trish lots of props and encouraging her to start a blog ASAP! Leave her some love, ok!

OKAY...well NOW it's YOUR TURN to ROCK the CRAFTY WORLD and LINK UP your PROJECTS!!! 

Never partied here before? Check out the deets below...

1. Link any crafty project NEW or OLD.

2. Link UP to 3 projects.

3. Place the party BUTTON on your post.
<center><a href="http://www.youhadmeatcraft.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/youhadmeatcraft/MADEITMYSELFBUTTON-2.jpg"/></a></center>

4. Visit and Comment on at least 2 Other Blogs

5. Lastly, leave a comment HERE!

Every LINK UP with comment will be entered to win THIS...

 Remember you must link up a project( up to three), AS WELL as leave a COMMENT ( only one comment necessary) for your entry to be eligible to WIN!