Laser cut experimentation

I love a great free resource. Lately, I've been on the hunt for a maker space with the right equipment I need to experiment with a new appliqué idea I'm working on. It's pretty intricate and made out of old t-shirt material so I needed something that could cut jersey knit. My 1st trial was on the Cricut Explore, but it was a disaster since I didn't bond my fabric. Turns out that the Cricut Explore can only cut bonded fabric while the Cricut Maker can cut without bonding.

I only found this out because I booked an appointment to work with a coach at the Huntington Beach Library maker space to show me how to use the Cricut Maker. The coach (I didn't get her name but she was awesome!) worked with me to cut my fabric that I bonded to freezer paper. (Here is a great tutorial on how to bond your fabric so you can remove the bonding easily).

First we tried the Cricut maker and it was total a fail. The details were too intricate and it didn't fully cut through the fabric with 2 layers of paper. But luckily across the room they had a laser cutter so we tried that and it worked!

(Stay tuned to see the final result after I peel away the paper and reveal the jersey underneath.)

You can see the failed Cricut rotary blade cut at the top and the successful laser cut at the bottom below:

The Huntington Beach Central Library is super cute. I has a spiral staircase in the middle with a water fountain. Located downstairs is a cafe and the maker space is to the left in the "Maddie Room". You can check out all the equipment they have on their website here.

Here’s some photos of the maker space and the library interior.