Cameo Silhouette ..... Any thoughts??

[Familyjournals]

I have a cameo...got it to do some projects for DD 's wedding. Tried cutting some fabric. Takes a special blade. Wasn't impressed. Didn't use backing, that might help because it tended to "wad" up. Has to be connected to laptop. I think something designed just for fabric might do better.

I have a silhouette cameo too, and I agree that you wold probably happier with something made to use with specifically fabric.

[Wrenmuzz]

I have a scan n cut, terrific for fabric as I have dexterity issues. I also have a Cricut but found it only cuts well with heat n bond, plus the expense of cartridges.

[Alpha O]

I don't mind backing fabric. I might have used Heat and Bond, I don't keep track. I didn't use a special knife or mat. I did a test cut on paper, design OK, so set for fabric and cut. I don't need that much in the way of applique and I do mess with cards.

I do not like cutting applique with scissors, even scherenschnitt ones. Did a lot of paper crafting in design classes and we used an Exacto knife to cut. Even die cut edges. Unfortunately, Exacto doesn't cut fabric right.

[Pandabear]

I don't mind backing fabric. I might have used Heat and Bond, I don't keep track. I didn't use a special knife or mat. I did a test cut on paper, design OK, so set for fabric and cut. I don't need that much in the way of applique and I do mess with cards.

I do not like cutting applique with scissors, even scherenschnitt ones. Did a lot of paper crafting in design classes and we used an Exacto knife to cut. Even die cut edges. Unfortunately, Exacto doesn't cut fabric right.

Did you use the Multi Cut feature for the fabric or did it cut first try? I keep telling myself to mess around with fabric cutting but never do

[Alpha O]

No. I think there was a setting for fabric in the menu. I just changed the number on the knife. It cut first go round. I didn't even change the knife. Wasn't aware there was a fabric knife. I bought the Designer version of the program. It has a lot of decent features.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmU0XipiJNI

That's a video for fabric.

The worst thing I played with was wrapping paper someone wanted specially cut!

I wish I'd had the Cameo when I did that animal wallhanging. McKenna Ryan Otters in the snow.
Cutting all that out was not fun. My daughter bought the wallhanging and never did it. I finished it and sent it to her one Xmas.

[TracyInBoise]

I have the Cameo and love, love, love it for fabric, among other things. You do need to prep the fabric with a stabilizer or fusible of some sort, but you don't have to use the Silhouette brand. I do recommend that you spend the extra ten or so bucks for the fabric blade. I love that I can import any image to the software and am not limited to their designs.

[Alpha O]

Buy and use the Pixscan mat. The registration marks are printed on the mat so you don't need to add them. The registration marks tell the machine where to cut. The machine software picks up the marks and shows you the image in the program.

The nice thing about having the registration marks done by Silhouette permanently, is the cutter usually sees them. Depending on your printer and setup, the Cameo doesn't always detect the registration marks added via the software.

http://www.silhouetteamerica.com/pixscan

[Jean Sewing Machine]

I bought a Scan and cut in spring, played with it a bit, but haven't tried the fabric cutting. It does have built in quilt designs for several common quilt blocks that it will cut, plus specific knives and mats for fabric. I have yet to play with this concept.

[LoveMyMachines]

Glad for this post.

I have a silhouette Cameo also. I haven't bought the fabric blade yet, mostly because I haven't had a quilt with non-repeated applique yet. I love my machine and have used it for lots of other things. Clean mats and sharp blades make all the difference. I plan to try it out for some picture style applique in the future!

I agree with others, it won't be great for basic geometries where you cut lots of them out. I thing the biggest drawback for those shapes is the single fabric layer limitation!��
It is a fun machine though with lots of potential. I won't trade mine! (However, I just splurged on a sizzix big kick with some basic square shapes for cutting my scraps!)

[Dordee]

I want to say someone tried Heat and Bond with their Cricut... but my memory... it comes and goes.

I Have used my cricut with fabric and yes you do use heat & Bond, works really good when wanting to applique