Ever wonder if you can do embroidery with a Cricut Maker or a Cricut Explore machine?
If you love spending your free time doing embroidery or have a craft business that incorporates embroidery, you may have wondered “Does the Cricut embroider?”.
The quick asnwer is no, but also YES. The actual machines don’t have the capability of stitching (they cut, draw, engrave, etc… you can learn what each Cricut machine is capable of here.)
They can however assist you in your projects and take your embroidered designs to the next level with speed and professionalism.
Continue reading to learn two methods for doing embroidery with a Cricut.
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But first, which Cricut machine assists in doing embroidery best?
Your best bet for purchasing a machine to embroider with is the Cricut Maker. The Cricut Maker has additional tools that will WOW sewing crafters.
Consider purchasing the following accessories (if they don’t come with your machine already):
Cricut Fabric Grip Cutting Mat (works also with Explore machines)
Cricut Fabric cutting wheel (for Maker machines)
Cricut Washable Fabric Pen (works with both Explore and Maker machines)
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How to embroider with a Cricut Maker
The following are two ways to use a Cricut machine for embroidered crafts:
1. Cutting holes in fabric or paper to create a design to stitch
One method of using a Cricut for embroidery is by cutting holes into your fabric or paper to create a design to stitch.
It can be done with a variety of materials including cardstock, felt, vinyl, leather, and more.
How to make an embroidered card with your Cricut
Download the free Embroidered Card SVG from the Gilded Stork Template Library here.
Once you have your design, upload it into Cricut Design Space. Change the singular crossing cut lines to score lines under the operations dropdown. Then attach the score lines to the medallion shapes. Next, score and cut the design from cardstock then hand embroider.
You can find the Cricut Design Space and assembly tutorial for embroidering your card in the above video.
2. Transferring your design to embroider with the Drawing Tool
Cricut Maker and Explore machines have a drawing tool that can be used to trace your designs onto your fabric. Wahoo! You can now throw away your finicky tracing paper!
How to embroider with Cricut’s Washable Fabric Pen
To execute this method, you will first need to choose a design to embroider. You can either create your design by layering shapes in Cricut Design Space, make your design in Adobe Illustrator (find a tutorial for creating SVGs in Adobe Illustrator the easy way with the image trace tool here), or find a free design online (check out the Gilded Stork library of over 30 free SVG designs here).
Once you’ve chosen your design, upload it into Cricut Design Space.
Within your “Canvas” on Cricut Design Space, change the design from cut lines to draw lines under the operation dropdown.
Next, place your fabric evenly and smoothly onto the Fabric Grip Cutting Mat. Add your Washable Fabric Pen to your machine’s pen slot and load the fabric mat into your Cricut.
Follow Cricut Design Space’s prompts for drawing your design onto your fabric.
Once your design has been drawn, remove your fabric from the cutting mat and embroider your design onto your fabric. This method works so well for adding a personal touch to plain fabrics and is great for beginners.
While a Cricut machine cannot in itself create embroidery stitches, it can assist you in creating designs to embroider onto your fabric. The Cricut Maker is the best machine to use for embroidery projects due to its additional tools and accessories designed specifically for fabric crafts.
Without a doubt, a Cricut machine can help take your embroidery projects to the next level.
Take your embroidery projects to the next level with a Cricut machine
2 thoughts on “Embroidery With Cricut – DIY Embroidered Card”
great idea! I’ve been using the “stitching” designs where dies are purchased but they’re a little high priced! I asked the CRICUT people how to *make* the stitching templates but was told can’t do it…probably because of the tiny holes needed for the needle but your way of punching the holes is a great idea! Your design doesnt have thousands of those holes so it won’t be bad. Can’t wait to try it! Thanks~
Thank you Alicia! I have been so inspired by Spellbinders embroidered cards but I don’t have any of their products…I wanted to figure out how to incorporate embroidery with my Cricut, this was a result of that exploration!