The 3 Types of Sewists who will LOVE a Cricut Maker

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Have you been hearing some buzz about the new Cricut Maker?

It's a cool new cutting machine that cuts a bunch of craft materials from fabric, to leather, to iron-on. Before I got to know Cricut, I used to think that cutting machines were only good for paper crafting - card making, maybe some home DIY, not much more - and not very useful for a sewist. I was totally wrong. The old Cricut Explore Air 2 gave you a lot of ways to customize your projects using iron-on embellishments, but with the new fabric cutting abilities offered with the Cricut Maker makes it a game changer for sewists. 

Today, as a part of a three part series on series on the new Cricut Maker, I'm going to be sharing my review of the machine (spoiler alert: I'm really into it). In addition, I'm also going to be sharing which types of sewists will benefit most from adding a Maker to their machine arsenal - if any of you readers have been wondering if this machine is really going to be right for you this post should help answer your questions! 

What do I think about the Cricut Maker?

For me, the most exciting part about the Cricut Maker is the adaptive tool system. Unlike other cutting machines, the tools for the Maker are meant to be easily interchangeable and grow with the machine - meaning they can continue to release new tools as time goes on. Similarly, the Maker doesn't have a materials dial on the machine that limits you to cutting just a few of the most popular options. Instead, they have an online interface that allows you to select from hundreds of materials. It's nice to know that this machine has the capabilities to grow with you and your crafting.  

Out of all the materials I've cut so far, fabric one of my favourites (Shocker... this is a sewing blog after all). Check out this rotary blade that makes all the magic happen! The Maker will cut pieces up to 12" x 24" (so you won't be able to cut out your next dress project with it) and is great for accurately working on smaller projects. I've got big plans to do some quilting and home decor projects with the Maker in the future - it makes repetitive cutting a lot less boring. Plus, Cricut has partnered with Simplicity to bring some really awesome sewing projects to the Design Space and I'm really excited to see what new patterns they'll release for the Maker!

Is a Cricut Maker Right for You?

Based on what I've observed over the last few weeks of using the Maker, I think there are three types of sewists who might really benefit from having a Cricut Maker in their collection. If you fit one or more of these descriptors a Cricut Maker just might be right for you. 

1) You love to sew... but you also have 1 million other craft-y pursuits. 

If you're anything like me, your "I can make that myself" attitude has gone beyond knocking off clothes you love from the mall. Now you're looking to make everything yourself - a DIY headboard, a new gallery wall for your living room, cards for Christmas... you name it! Making things has become an unstoppable obsession. 

If you're just a general lover of DIY and crafting, you'll love the Cricut Maker. While the most notable new feature of the Cricut Maker (in my opinion) is that it can cut fabric, it's also great for cutting essential crafting materials like cardstock, felt, vinyl, and iron-on. I didn't realize how much I would LOVE crafting with these types of materials until I had them at my fingertips. 

I try to only show sewing related projects on this blog, but the truth is I've been using my Cricut Maker like crazy around the house over the last month or so. I've created dozens of cards to have on hand for birthdays and other special events. I've (finally) labelled all of my glass spice jars in my kitchen with some cute vinyl letters. I've also made some amazing and easy art for my sewing space. Wyatt made a cool shield/emblem thing for our Dungeons and Dragons game (nerdy, I know). Now that I have a cutting machine, I use almost every weekend for some random project around the house.

I'm suddenly contemplating making giant crepe flowers to keep on display at home. Why? Because I can. Crafting is an obsession, guys. 
 

2) You want to quilt, but suck a cutting straight lines. 

About four years ago (maybe even five) I got this wonderful idea to make my mom a quilt for Christmas. It was See Kate Sew's triangle quilt. It's a crib quilt made with just triangles, no fancy quilt blocks needed. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

Wrong. It was not easy. It took days. Every triangle I cut (by hand, with scissors on the floor, all 120 of them) was wonky, which made sewing clean 1/4" seams impossible. Some of my seam allowances ended up really small to compensate for my weird triangles and have since ripped open over the last four years of love, wear, and tear. To this day, my nan will lovingly patch up every single one of these holes to keep this quilt kicking around of a little longer, but the truth of the matter is: that quilt was, technically speaking, horrendously constructed. 

 Luckily, moms love everything you give them. But, after this first foray into quilting I quickly decided that it wasn't for me. 

Until I tried quilting with my Cricut Maker. 

I've been casually working on a quilt over the last few weeks - the Hexi Half Quilt free with Cricut Access. I cut all the pieces out on Maker in two hours while hanging out with my friends. I sewed all the pieces together in another two hour session - since everything was cut out accurately this time, it was super quick to whip up. Now all that's left to do is buy some batting and get quilting the top! 

Compared to last time, this quilting experience went a whole lot better, and has given me the confidence to consider quilting some more complex projects - like a full sized Double Sash Throw for my couch. Having accurate cuts really makes all the quilting process a whole lot easier.
 

3) You sew a lot of smaller project and are looking amp up your speed.

Friends, Christmas is AROUND the corner. Do you have sewing gifts on your to-do list? Even small projects, like stuffed animals for the kids in your family, pot holders, stockings, or makeup pouches can take forever to sew when you need to make 5, 10, 15 or even 20 of the same project.

Enter: The Cricut Maker.

Having a machine to do the cutting for you saves a huge amount of time. The other weekend I batch sewed some rice bags to heat up in the microwave - I'm sure they have a proper name, but I affectionately call them hot bags. I started sewing the first while the machine was cutting the second, and then once I had finished the first the second was done cutting, so I sewed the second while the machine cut the third - so on, and so on. Having a little help cutting made my batch-sewing process a lot faster. I know a lot of you like to batch cut by stacking multiple pieces of fabric then cutting it all at once, but I find that seriously impacts the accuracy of my cuts. So, for me and my clumsy hands, I won't be tackling any more assembly-line style sewing without my Maker.

What are your crafting must-haves?

I think it's so cool that everyone has different must-haves based on the way they sew. I hope this post has been helpful in deciding if the Cricut Maker would make a smart addition to you crafting toolbox!
 

I would love to know, what are your crafting must haves? I used to think my serger was essential to my sewing collection, but now that I've got a heartier sewing machine with an awesome overlock foot, I rarely use my serger anymore! 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.