Kestrel's Cricut Supplies

To finish up my itemization of all the stuff I use in my sewing studio, today's blog post is all about the stuff I use for cutting fabric with my Cricut Explore Air 2.

The blog posts in this series will include:

  1. Computer and Sewing Machines
  2. Sewing Tools
  3. Storage and Organizers
  4. Cricut Supplies This post
  5. Lights and Suspension System

Cutting Supplies

These supplies are the things I use with my cutting machine.

Cricut Cutting Supplies

  1. Fine-Point Blades: Link These off-brand blades are made from carbide and are far cheaper than Cricut's branded blades. They're great, and I buy them by the dozen. I always use a new blade for each cutting project, and change blades every 500-1000 cuts, depending on how big my fabric pieces are.

  2. Sticky Mats: 12in x 12in , 12in x 24in Buying Cricut's branded sticky mats in bulk is by far the cheapest dollar-per-mat ratio I've found. The 12"x12" mats in bulk come to $3.46 each; the 12"x24" mats are $5.12 each. That's calculating the sale prices available as of publishing this blog post, but in all honesty, I've never not seen the bulk mats on sale.

  3. Alcohol-free Baby Wipes: Link I use one wipe to clean my mat after every trip through my cutting machine. Keeping a clean sticky mat is critical to ensuring clean fabric cuts. (The wipes in the link look different than the photo in this blog post. I use the wipes in the link, but keep them in the water-tight storage container shown in the photo.)

  4. Heavyweight Sheet Protectors: Link Cut pieces of fabric lifted off of the sticky mat have a tendency to curl. I use these heavyweight sheet protectors to flatten them down. Resting a sheet protector on top of the fabric pieces will do the trick; no need to slide the fabric pieces inside. Also: Regular weight protectors don't do the job; you need to use heavyweight.

  5. Cricut Scraper: Link This scraper is perfect for removing debris from the sticky mat. I wipe my mats with a baby wipe and then scrape off any residual fusible/fibers with this scraper. Unfortunately, this scraper is only available as part of a set of other tools, and to be completely honest, I don't use any of them other than the scraper.

  6. Speedball Brayer 4in Roller: Link This roller is perfect for evenly pressing fabric to the sticky mat.

Not shown in the above photo

These last two supplies aren't show in the photo but are part of my fabric-cutting process.

  1. Mod Podge: Fabric Matte I use diluted Mod Podge to treat my fabric against fraying. I initially used the Fabric variety of Mod Podge, but have recently switched to Matte because it's less expensive. Both work extremely well. Tip: You can also get Mod Podge from Joann , and if you have a coupon, that might be the least expensive option.

  2. Pellon 805 Wonder Under: Walmart , Amazon This is my preferred brand of fusible web, and at $1.40/yard (as of publishing this blog post), the Walmart link is the cheapest I've found it. The Amazon link is a close second at $2.02/yard.