The crafting world has been abuzz with news of the new Cricut Maker for the past few months now. If you aren’t familiar with it, the first thing you need to know is that this machine is not just an update of previous cutting machines. We know it’s a cliché, but this is a game-changer for sewists, quilters, and other crafters. The Cricut Maker outshines the others in terms of versatility, ease of use, function, and precision. So, let’s take a closer look at what makes this incredible tool stand out over and above the rest.
One of the big changes (and we think, improvements) is the way you tell the machine what to do. With the Cricut Explore Air 2, you would use a dial to choose your material. With the Cricut Maker, the dial has been eliminated. Instead, you select the material within the Design Space. The machine automatically senses the blade and does a double-check for you to make sure you have chosen the correct one. What happens if you haven’t? The Cricut Maker will let you know! No more chance of ruining your material!
The Cricut Maker can cut a wide variety of materials – much more any machine we’ve encountered before. It has an expandable array of tools, meaning that rather than buying a new machine each time there are updates, you can simply add on new tools. It comes with both the fine point and rotary blades which will cut through a large range of materials but for even more versatility, you can purchase additional blades. Currently, there are 5 blades in total: the two previously mentioned as well as the knife blade, deep point blade, and the bonded fabric blade.
The adaptive tool system is part of what makes the Cricut Maker really shine. This gives the machine much more cutting power than in previous cutting machines with 4 kg of force – that’s 10 times the force of the Cricut Explore Cut Smart 2 system. In addition, it can adapt and control the direction of the blade and the cut pressure according to the material you have selected in the Design Space. This gives the machine the ability to cut many more types of material than before and the cuts it makes are much more exacting.
The star of the show, in our opinion, though is the rotary blade. Do you sew? Do you want to sew? You are going to LOVE what you can do with the Cricut Maker and the rotary blade. Because of the adaptive tool system, this cutting blade will make contact with the fabric at exactly the right angle it needs to cut the patterns, quilt blocks, and so on neatly and precisely. There is an optional washable fabric pen (sold separately) that can be added to the system too. This can draw on the perfect seam allowances and even number your pattern pieces.
What’s more, the Cricut Maker is able to cut through fabric without any backing material. You can find patterns in the Cricut Design Space or add your own. It will take your patterns and automatically divide them up on the cutting mats in the most efficient layout possible. So, this amazing cutting machine can not only use your patterns to cut out your fabric in about half the time but with far less fabric wastage too!
But wait, there’s more! With the Cricut Maker’s updated optical sensor, you can now “Print-Then-Cut” your designs, even on colored or patterned cardstock. This, combined with the rotary blade for paper projects or the knife blade for thicker ones (balsa wood, mat board, craft foam, and more), will cover a multitude of DIY needs.
As an added bonus, this machine has extra built-in storage to accommodate a variety of tools. There’s even a docking station for your phone or tablet and a USB port to charge them. You can easily create designs on your device to use with the machine or binge watch your favorite shows while working.
Sounds amazing, right? So tell us, what’s the first thing you’d create with your Cricut Maker?
Cricut Products You Can’t Live Without
Cricut Maker
Cricut Iron On
Transfer Tape
Easy Press
