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.”
-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.
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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!
Cyndi
Sunday 8th of January 2017
Hey Jessica! I'm trying to cut felt to sew onto towels. In the past I used a material like the wonder under (can't remember exactly what it was) on felt and tried to sew it to the towel after I had ironed the two materials together but it bound up my sewing machine. I'm wondering if the wonder under would bind my sewing machine like previous iron on mediums. I really want to cut my felt on the cameo but so far the freezer paper isn't working out and I'm frustrated. Also I have the new cameo 3 with the auto blade. I've tried it with that and with my deep cut blade and it either bunches the felt or pulls away from the freezer paper. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Jessica @ Cutesy Crafts
Monday 9th of January 2017
There are different kinds of Wonder Under and Heat N Bond. Some are not for sewing and will mess up your sewing machine. Since I created this post, I discovered that I prefer Heat N Bond Lite when sewing and Heat N Bond Ultra when not sewing. If the Heat N Bond Lite doesn't work for you, I would still try the Wonder Under. It's really really thin, so you shouldn't have a problem with that. I found that when using the freezer paper method, you have to get the iron pretty hot to really get it to stick to the felt. Make sure you are using wool or wool blend (not acrylic) felt. Maybe do some experimenting by cutting right after ironing or waiting a bit until the felt has cooled. I'm not sure, but that might make a difference. I had varying results when using freezer paper. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.