Cricut Appliqué with Happy Hauntings

STEP ONE - Get an Idea!! 

SPOOOOKY!! After playing with the Happy Hauntings cartridge with paper, I was dying to do an appliqué, and so I was pretty excited to find all of these lovely halloween fabrics at a the local Creative Stitching trade show! The store that I purchased them from is called The Sugar Pine Company and is located in my beautiful home town of Canmore.

STEP TWO - Pick your fabrics

My theory in creating the appliqué was that it would be a pillow case. (Quin's idea) Keep in mind that I have only ever really *played* with appliqué and have never done a project with a lot of detail. Also keep in mind that starting things off easy before trying something more difficult has never been my thing!

STEP THREE - Create a base

So, with Step One and Step Two complete... I proceeded right along and created a base for the applique. This may be where a bit more precision would have come in handy!! (This is also where my Mother is cringing and shaking her head) Can you see the ripple in my purple fabric? Oops. ☹ Sadly I didn't think it would have that much effect on the finished design so I just kept going when I probably should have undone some stitching and straightened things out a bit!

STEP FOUR - Apply HeatnBond

But... I didn't fix a thing. Instead I proceeded to Step Four and ironed some HeatnBond onto the fabrics that I would cut with my Cricut. This is a very critical step if you are going to cut fabric with your Cricut. The interfacing stabilizes your fabric so that it doesn't stretch and pull when the Cricut blade passes over it. It also (obviously) makes putting your design together much easier!   I recommend using the fusible Ultrahold HeatnBond. It's heavier weight adds a bit more stability and I've always had success with it!

Once you are ready to cut, you have a couple of options in placing your fabric onto the Cricut mat.

1. Leave the paper backing in place on the interfacing and lay the fabric paper side down onto your mat. This option works well if your material isn't releasing at all from the interfacing.

2. Leave the paper backing in place on the interfacing and lay the fabric paper side UP on the Cricut Mat. This means that you will have to cut a mirror image of your designs so that when you flip them over they are right side up. I've talked to a couple of ladies who prefer cutting fabric this way.

3. Remove the paper backing and place the fabric with the interfacing side down onto the Cricut Mat. I personally have equal success with this option as well as option one. I am ultimately too lazy to cut mirror images of everything (though I trust my buddies that it works well!)

The most important tips that I can share in using HeatnBond or any interfacing is to ensure that you have ironed it on securely (according to directions you'll find on the package) and to use a new blade!

Here is a quick video of the actual cutting process ... I am both the narrator and the film crew, so bear with me!!

STEP FIVE - Cut your appliqué pieces

I think that cutting all of the pieces out is officially Step Five. I can't express how impressed I am with the Cricut's ability to cut fabric! This is the easiest step in creating your appliqué and of course your patterns are unlimited and you can personalize to your heart's content! My owl and phrase are cut from the Happy Haunting cartridge and I cut the scallop border using Accent Essentials.

And...look!? You can hardly see that ripple right? Would YOU have taken it apart? lol (Sorry Mom!!)

Next comes stitching your pieces into place and I also added a few gemstones and letter beads as embellishments. I have always done appliqué stitching by hand but thought that I would try using my sewing machine for this project. I figure that I am going to need a bit of practice here too, but all in all I am happy with this as my first detailed project!!

The finished project

I decided to try framing the finished piece, but am thinking that a pillow may still be the better choice....you won't notice my learning curve mistakes if you are sitting on the design...right?!