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Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Fabric Softener Sheets for die cutting

Does your die look like this when you cut something out? You spend the next few minutes poking out those little intricate cuts in your dies.  Want to save time as well as it provides a little better embossing look!!!
Using the cheapest fabric softener sheets and make sure it is as free of dyes and perfumes due to getting that sticky stuff on the paper and making it gooey, you get a die and cut that almost doesn't need any poking out.  It not only saves time but it is a great way to get all of the embossing out of your die.  I use each sheet about 4 or 5 times before it is no longer good.  Again, buy the cheapest fabric softener sheets without any of the dyes and perfumes.

This is a Cherry Lynn Design border and before, I had to spend a little time poking out all of the paper out of the die or the cut out.  The company says that I only have to tap the die and these little cuts come out, but never happened to my friends or me when we tried tapping it on a garbage can.



Place your die with the paper and then lay the fabric softener sheet down on the paper and then lay the cutting pad down and run your machine.  This is what it should look like with the fabric softener behind the paper.  This die needed the fabric softener behind the paper since it wasn't cutting out well.


Once I peeled off the die cut, this is what remains on the fabric softener.  Nothing in the die nor the cut.
Here is another example of an intricate die that was already cut out. 

Note:  The die cut is on the fabric softener sheet and nothing to poke out of the die.  

Now look at the fabric softener sheet after I pulled the die cut out of the fabric softener sheet.  Nothing was on the die or on the die cut and everything is on the fabric softener sheet.

This doesn't work with all dies, cuts or paper but when it does work, it saves time and note that it also adds more of the embossing from the die to the paper than just cutting it out with only the cutting pads.

All of my friends now use this technique
and we have been using it now for over a year with great results most of the time. 

Please leave a comment if this was helpful for you.

4 comments:

Patricia St Martin said...

Nancy what a great idea! I have to pick up some cheep fabric sheets and try this. I'm so tired of poking out pieces of paper. I know wax paper helps but would not of thought of fabric sheets. I hope you will let me share your tutorial on my blog when I post my card tomorrow. Thanks for sharing.
Hugs Pat

Nancy Hill said...

You bet you can share this to others. Like I said, it doesn't work for all dies or paper but most of the time it will. I found the very tiny and intricate die cut sometimes break if you go to fast in the peeling. If you need for information, let me know!

Samra said...

What a fabulous tutorial Nancy! Thank you!!! I usually use a piece of wax paper with intricate dies so they come out easily, but I'll definitely give it a try with fabric softener sheets! Thank You again!
Hugs

Samra
Paper Talk with Samra

Darlene said...

This is a great hint that I ha totally forgotten about ... thanks for bringing it to my/our attention. That CLD lacy die is one of my favorites but such a pain to poke all those little holes out. I will try this for sure! Thanks again!
Darlene
DAR'S CRAFTY CREATIONS

P.S. A friend and I have a new challenge blog beginning in 2016. Please come take a peek and I would be thrilled if you'd consider applying for the design team. Double D Challenges