Today I will tell you what is bonded fabric and how you could use it. This is a technique widely used nowadays in disposable products and you can apply it to many types of materials such as plastic and metal.
Specifically, bonded fabric is a method for joining different types of textiles by means of an adhesive. Of course, the textile must be made of heat-resistant fibers in order to be able to bond them.
The most interesting thing about this is that there are many ways to bond the fabrics and you can find different textures depending on what you want to do. It has so many options, you can choose to make upholstery, decoration, clothing, and many more things.
Dare to experiment with bonded fabric! And you will see that in a quick and easy way you will have a super cool textile product.
What is bonded fabric and how to apply it correctly?
When experimenting with a method like this, you must be careful when working with heat and be precise with the design you want to make.
I imagine that you already have knowledge about fabrics and that is why you want to work with this technique. If not, don’t worry because I will explain in a very understandable way how you can do it yourself.
Let’s work with bonded material! Let’s do it!
First of all, I want to answer the most important question: Can you cut fabric with Cricut Explore Air 2? And obviously, the answer is a resounding yes!
The best way to work bonded fabric is with the Cricut Explore Air 2 machine.
And why do I recommend it? Because you can basically use fabrics with Cricut adhesives (that you can find and buy them on Amazon) or because you can use any fabric or material you want and put a fabric adhesive on it and then use it.
The important thing is that the adhesive you apply serves as a fastener for the fabric and you can make your cut neatly and accurately according to the shape you chose, the fabric with the adhesive attached would be like a kind of textile vinyl that you will use in your product.
For example: using the fabric in this way, you can use a heat press to attach it to a t-shirt.
Another advantage is that the Cricut Explore Air 2, comes with an iron on the end, with which you can regulate the exact amount of heat you need to adhere the bra to your fabric.
All you have to do is cut the adhesive on the fabric, calculate the same size as the fabric, then set the temperature and time you want, and then lay it down.
It’s probably only a touch of seconds, so you need to be attentive!
Here you can see a great step by step on how to cut Bonded Fabric with The Cricut Explore Air 2:
Then you wait a bit for it to cool down and then you take the fastener off and you will see that it is left with a fixative, which you have to stick on the board that you use to cut.
Why do you need this fixative? So that the fabric stays perfectly still and you can cut it easily. Always remember to place it in the upper left corner of the board.
To make sure that the surface is absolutely flat, it is best to use the cricket brayer of cricut, and pass it all over the fabric, so that it does not have any wrinkles and is well glued to the board.
Then you can use the rotary cutter to make it really perfect.
Now let's talk about the design!
Before cutting your fabric, you have to have already decided on your design or shape.
Then you open the Cricut Explore Air 2 program with your computer and choose the shape, in the left panel you can choose other shapes that you can add and you have several options.
You can also add shapes to your drawing and make it bigger or smaller.
Once you have your shape ready, go back to the cutting board, place the fabric, (glue it to the mat), and then choose the bonded fabric blade pink and housing for this.
It works like your regular blade and housing, but this choice of pink, is due to the fact that when you’re cutting fabric it wears on your blade more so curricular, so I recommend that you have a separate place for that and I prefer to use just used the separate blade and housing for it but you can get the regular blade and housing and right fabric or something on it, so you notice the difference but the pink one just shows it’s easier to keep track of.
So now you can cut it out, but before you pull out the trimming, check that your drawing is trimmed well, so it won’t break or stretch when you pull it out.
You can slowly pull it out through the edges of the leftover fabric, and then through the edges of the drawing.
Do it slowly so it comes out well!
Now you can place it on top of the fabric you have chosen, set the temperature and time you need on your iron (this will always depend on the material you have chosen), press it for the necessary seconds, and check it! Bonded material ready!
(If your drawing is bigger than the fabric, my other recommendation is to press it in parts and then remove it).
When it is ready, you can check if it is really stuck, trying to lift it a little with your nails, so you will notice that it is stuck and that it will not come off.
Now you can enjoy your craft and stop wondering “what is bonded fabric?” and how to do it.
This technique seems much easier than it looks and it only takes a few minutes. The main thing is to be clear about what you want to do and what you need it for because the important thing is the choice of the material you want to work with.
As I said, the method changes depending on the material.
I hope you really enjoy your Cricut Explore Air 2 and get the most out of it!
I’m sure you have lots of ideas and creativity to exploit the full potential of this great textile machine.
I would like to show you another very interesting technique on ‘what is flocked iron on‘. Click here to see what it is about!
Lots of success with crafts!
See you in the next tutorial!