It’s Silhouette Challenge Monday! Hi everyone! Ok, so this month’s theme is Print and Cut. Honestly, I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to do for this project. I mean, I’ve used print and cut plenty of times before; like for my Christmas cards, or the snowman stickers. I wanted to do something different than before. I always like to challenge myself to expand my horizons instead of staying stuck in the same spot.
Then I saw this post by The Sewing Loft on how to print your own fabric labels, and the lightbulb went off. Print and cut fabric labels! How cool would that be! And so, with that in mind, I present to you my February challenge project:
Materials
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In addition to my Silhouette, the only product I used was June Tailor Quick Fuse printable fabric sheets. The link to the left is for a 3 sheet cream set. I purchased the 10 sheet white set.
Interested in printing on fabric you already have? The Graphics Fairy has a fantastic roundup of 6 different ways that you can do that here. I recommend checking it out. Keep in mind that you’ll want to add an interfacing to your fabric, such as the Silhouette Clean Cut Fabric Interfacing. This type of interfacing creates an iron on label. You could use a regular interfacing as well and sew your labels on. Just keep in mind that you need to have an interfacing of some type to stabilize the fabric while your machine is cutting.
Step 1 – Design your labels
First I had to design my tag and figure out what cut shape I was going to use. I did my designing in Photoshop and riffed off of my page header. Then, I imported the .jpg file into Silhouette Studio.
For the shape, I used one of the label shapes available in We Graphics free label vectors. The file contains a photoshop file, an illustrator file, and an .eps file. If you don’t have Photoshop or Illustrator, you can use EPS File Viewer or another program that reads .eps files. EPS viewer also allows you to save as a .jpg, which you can then import into Silhouette Studio and trace.
For tips on tracing, check out my Organizing with Icons post from last month’s challenge.
Here’s what my cut file looked like:
Step 2: Print
Ok, I’ll be honest here. One of the reasons I choose to use a printable fabric sheet instead of printing directly on fabric I already have is that it’s pre-cut and stiff enough to go through my printer without any extra effort on my part. The normal fabric settings worked just fine.
Tip: Make sure your fabric is placed the right way in your printer, so that it will print on the fabric side and not the fusible side.
Step 3: Cut
Next up is to run it through the fabric through the machine. Another bonus of working with the fabric sheets was that I could just stick them on my sheets and go.
Tip: When using the print and cut feature, I find it useful to watch the registration process. Sometimes it seems to register in really weird places. If it does, I’ll pause the machine and cancel the cut right away.
Tip: When removing the labels, make sure to peel up slowly from the corners. On the small pieces, I sometimes found that the fusible part wanted to stick to the mat. By rolling the corners up a little bit, I could make sure that I was actually pulling the whole piece of and not just the fabric sans fusible interfacing.
Fin
That’s it! It’s actually a rather simple project. I was able to get 12 labels per sheet. Since I had a 50% off coupon and purchased my sheets at Joann’s, the price per label comes out to 10¢ per label barring any issues with printing or cutting. I didn’t have any issues with the 4 sheets I printed. Not bad, especially if I wanted to make just a few labels or a bunch of different custom labels.
I hope you enjoyed this project and it helps you think of ways to use your Silhouette differently. Thanks for stopping by!
Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?
My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so peruse the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!
1. Clever Someday // 2. TitiCrafty // 3. GingerSnapCrafts.com // 4. My Paper Craze // 5. Simply Kelly Designs // 6. Little Blue's Room // 7. Mama Sonshine // 8. Small Stuff Counts // 9. Dragonfly & Lily Pads // 10. GiveMeAPaintbrush // 11. Please Excuse My Craftermath… // 12. Barb's Life // 13. GetSilvered // 14. Lil' Mrs. Tori // 15. Minted Strawberry // 16. unOriginal Mom // 17. Where The Smiles Have Been // 18. Persia Lou // 19. Silhouette School // 20. From Whine to Whine // 21. DailyDwelling // 22. Creative Ramblings // 23. Paper Garden Projects // 24. It Happens in a Blink // 25. Perfectly Fabulous // 26. Adventures in All Things Food // 27. Create & Babble
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I learn something new every time there is a Silhouette Challenge. I had no idea there were printable fabric sheets. I see fabric labels in my near future! Thanks for sharing your project!
Kelly Hedgespeth of Simply Kelly Designs recently posted…DIY Conversation Hearts Temporary Tattoos
I learn something new all the time too! It’s one of my favorite parts about these challenge hops! 🙂
This is a genius idea!! I had no idea that these printable fabric sheets existed!
Emily @ Two Purple Couches recently posted…Black Bean Soup Recipe
These are cute – I have yet to try fabric but its on my list.
Cathrine recently posted…Valentine Hugs and Kisses Canning Jar Craft
I’ve been scared to try cutting fabric, but this looks like a great way to start. Thanks for sharing this cool idea!
But Kay – You’re fearless! I’m sure that once you try it you’ll see that it’s so much easier than you’d imagine. Thanks for being a part of the Silhouette Challenge Group!
Great idea! I never wanted to spend a bunch to order custom labels as I’m not that prolific of a seamstress, but this is totally doable! Thanks for sharing.
Amber recently posted…Be My Valentine Mini Album
It was really easy too – I didn’t need to make any altercations to the printable fabric sheets. I’d love to see any projects you end up making!
Thank you for this post! I’m researching cutting machines (trying to decide between a Sil Cameo and a Cricut Air) and I came across this tutorial during a search to see if the Cameo would cut printable fabric. I haven’t purchased a machine yet, but will very soon. Can you tell me what setting your used to cut? Did you use a fabric blade or the blade you use for all your cutting? What other settings? I can’t wait to get a machine and make fabric tags (and lots of other fun stuff). Thank you!
Hi Kim! I just used the regular fabric settings (Blade of 3, Speed at 5, Thickness at 33). I did use a fabric blade, but there is no difference between the two. It just has a blue housing so you can remember to use it just for fabric, like how you have paper scissors and fabric scissors.
I also have a a cricut explore (same as the air, except without the bluetooth ability). It would be able to cut this material no problem at all. In general, I like the cutting abilities of the cricut better, but the software of the cameo better. This results in me using my silhouette unless I need the heavier duty cutting capabilities of the explore. If you’re interested in my take between the two, you can read my thoughts here: http://www.kgdcraftermath.com/2014/03/cricut-explore-first-impressions/
I’m sure you’re gonna love having a machine!
My wife is doing a small little business where she sells canned fruit. I think that a great custom label would help her cause a lot. I agree with you that it’s a pretty simple project. I’m going to have my wife make some of these!