How to Cut and Screen Print on Felt with Your Cricut Maker

Jan 31, 2020 | Cricut Projects, Project Ideas, Screen Printing, Tutorials, Valentines

This post may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.

One of the many things I love about my Cricut Maker is that it can cut so many different materials. When I was considering which Cricut vinyl cutter to get, I knew the Maker would give me more possibilities in the long run. Their quick swap tool system has allowed me to add new cutting tools and expanded the types of materials I am able to cut – all with the same machine!

The Cricut Maker cuts felt smoothly and precisely so much better than I could do by hand. I cut hearts out of a variety of colors of felt for this project.

Supplies Needed to Screen Print on Felt

How to Cut Felt with Your Cricut Maker

To make a conversation heart banner out of felt, I started by cutting the hearts with my Cricut Maker using the rotary blade. I placed the felt sheet on the Fabric Mat and rolled it on securely with the brayer tool. In Design Space, I chose the basic “Felt” material. This setting cut 1mm craft felt easily. If you are using thicker felt, you will want to adjust your settings. That's it, the Cricut Maker does all of the work to cut out the hearts!

How to Screen Print with Vinyl on the Felt Pieces

After my hearts are cut out comes my favorite part – screen printing! I cut my sayings on Oracal 651 Vinyl. In Design Space I spaced the words so I could fit 3 hearts at a time under the screen without overlapping the felt.

If you are new to screen printing with vinyl, I recommend starting with my step-by-step guide. This ebook will walk you through each step (with pictures) to explain the process of screen printing with vinyl.

Similar to screen printing on shirts, squeegee ink over your design with firm pressure to get a nice even coat. Repeat this process a couple times to ensure you have enough ink covering your design. Lift the screen and reveal your printed design!

Video Tutorial: How to Cut and Screen Print on Felt with Your Cricut Maker

Tips for Screen Printing on Felt

Use the Speedball hinge frame to easily align your design on the felt pieces. Once I had the hearts lined up, I traced the outline on a paper that was taped to the board. This gave me a reference for lining up each of the felt hearts. You can do this project with just the frame but it will make it a little more challenging to line up.
The Speedball Fabric ink soaks nicely into the felt. I used 2-3 passes with the squeegee (firm pressure) and was able to get a nice crisp print each time.
Cut all of your felt pieces first. Once you put ink on your screen, you want to work quickly so it doesn't dry. I was able to easily print 30 hearts and could have kept going! Once you are all done, immediately remove your frame from the base and wash the screen.
I taped the felt to the board using masking tape. This helps keep them in place in the event I need to lower the screen to add 2nd coat of ink.
I did not heat set the ink on this project. With no plans to get this wet or wash it, it was one less step. If you are selling your scree printed felt items and want to be sure the ink never fades when it gets wet, you can heat set just as you would with t-shirts. Here are some tips on heat setting fabric ink.