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How to cut FELT with Your Silhouette

Yes, you read that right, you CAN cut felt with your Silhouette!  Before you get too excited, there are a few things I must tell you.  First, this method will mess up your mat a bit faster than “normal” cutting would; second, you have to iron fusible webbing onto the back that will not come off; and last, sometimes it doesn’t work, sometimes it does.  All of that being said, using my Cameo to cut felt saves me a TON of time so it’s all worth it!  Be sure to read my updated post on cutting felt with the Silhouette Cameo 3 and deep cut blade!

 

I just joined a Silhouette-user Facebook group that Lauren from The Thinking Closet runs.  Email her if you want to join!  I was telling the girls about how to cut felt, and they convinced me to make a tutorial.  One of them commented that she couldn’t wait to see the video.  What?  I’ve never made a video… good idea!  I decided to make my first EVER YouTube video to show you everything you need to know (and probably more) about cutting felt with your Silhouette!  Check it out if you own or want to own a Silhouette or if you just want to find out what my voice sounds like. 🙂  Just please resist the urge to count how many times I say “um.”

Don’t want to watch the video?  Here’s the rundown since I forgot to take photos along the way:

-I have cut both acrylic (craft store) and wool blend felt on my Cameo.  Both worked, but the wool blend definitely had better results.  The acrylic looses detail around the edges where the wool blend doesn’t.  You can check out my post about different kinds of felt here.

-First thing you need to do is iron fusible interfacing onto the back of your felt.  I use Wonder Under (Pellon 805).  Peel the paper backing off and place with Wonder Under down on the mat.

-Set your fabric blade to 10, depth to 33, speed to 3, and check the double cut box.  Using such a high blade depth is what can jack up your mat, also I’ve noticed that sometimes the webbing leaves residue on the mat.

Hopefully that helps someone.  I actually bought the machine to cut things out of felt not knowing if it really would, and I am so glad that I did!  I can tell you that I have successfully cut a ton of felt with it without any problems.  Saves me so much time!  Check out my etsy shop to see what I did with the felt in the video.

Make sure to check out part two of this post where I show how different kinds of felt cut.
http://www.cutesycrafts.com/2014/01/experiments-with-cutting-felt-on.html
And go take a look at this post from my friend Kristy at Please Excuse My Craftermath where she tests out what the new Cricut Explore can cut.  I’m very interested in this machine!
Cricut Cutting
 And finally, check out my updated post on cutting felt with the Silhouette Cameo 3!
Cutting felt with the SIlhouette Cameo 3

Cutesy Crafts is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.  This post contains affiliate links.

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Shar

Friday 5th of January 2024

I'm thinking of using this tutorial to create the different objects(animals, veggies, ppl and clothes etc) for a children's quiet book. Anyone have any experience or ideas for this?

Heather McTaggart

Wednesday 17th of January 2018

Thanks for the video! I've never used wonder under before. I was wondering if instead of stitching your pink cut outs together, can you iron them together?Would the wonder under fuse the together? Looking to make felt pennants and don't want to sew letters on, would rather iron to save time Thanks!

Jessica @ Cutesy Crafts

Wednesday 17th of January 2018

Yes, you can definitely iron the pieces instead of stitching. I actually prefer to use Heat n' bond with my Silhouette now. It leaves less of a mess on my mat. If you aren't going to sew, I recommend the "ultrahold." If you wanted to sew, you would use "lite."

Cecelia

Friday 5th of January 2018

How long does one cutting mat last for you? I tried the wonder under but I think my mat isn’t sticky enough because it still bunches when it goes back in the direction it just cut. I also cut out leather and it is pretty covered in stuff. I recently bought a new mat but I don’t want to ruin it just yet but if that is the only way I will be able to cut the felt then I guess I should try.

Jessica @ Cutesy Crafts

Tuesday 9th of January 2018

Honestly, I don't know. I'm really bad at keeping track of that kind of stuff. I did find out that using Heat N Bond makes less of a mess on my mat, so I try to use that now instead.

Rachel Ramey

Wednesday 25th of October 2017

Do you know if there's a "trick" to determining what thickness to start with when experimenting with a new material? I know there's going to be some trial and error, but it would be nice to know how to get it kinda close to start with.

Jessica @ Cutesy Crafts

Wednesday 25th of October 2017

The software has a list of pre-set materials that are a usually a good place to start. I also like to do an internet search to see if someone else has already done it. Then I can just use their cut settings. For felt, I just knew it needed to be the highest possible settings because it's so thick.

Athena

Sunday 2nd of April 2017

I'm considering to buy the cameo and found your youtube video. Thanks for sharing. Can you tell me which facebook group you're in? I wanna join to get some inspiration for cameo projects. TIA :)

Jessica @ Cutesy Crafts

Tuesday 4th of April 2017

The group I'm in is called The Silhouette Challenge. The group kinda died down, and I don't think anyone is accepting new members right now though. The site, Silhouette School is a great resource though. You should check it out!

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