Technique of the Week #42 – Slice Die Cutting Machine!

Project Hours: 2 hours
Design and Materials: 1 hour + (includes charge time for the Slice machine)
Execution:  1 hour

You might be thinking “Why would an art quilter be at all interested in a die cutting machine?”  In fact, I have looked at die-cutters for fabric for a while now, but the major thing that always held me back was twofold: 1.) the cost of the dies 2.) the lack of scale-ability of the designs.    So while at the Chicago Quilt Festival in June I was introduced to the awesome people of Slice, and my die cutting adventures began!  Note: I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.

I own a manual die cutter, but I can’t afford the dies.  I love the concept of cutting leaves and other common things out using a die, but the cost of a die in a 2 inch, 3 inch, and 4 inch size is too cost prohibitive.  ENTER THE SLICE.  Scale the die up or down, mirror image, shadow effects, the works. The designs are on a card and you just select the item from the menu, choose the size, prep the surface, and cut!
I tried using the Slice machine to do a multi piece project from their Monster card. The great thing here is that the design booklet that comes with the card tells you where in the cutting zone your piece will be cut from so you can align it properly.  I picked this monster who looked like a pear.

After I selected and fused my fabrics to paper backed fusibles, I set up my machine and let it do the cutting.

I assembled and fused down my little monster dude and got to quilting! This was a LOT easier to use that I figured it would be, and the design cards really speak to my “cute cartoony” style.  I can definitely see using this in the future for all kinds of stuff! Christmas cards, table runners, pillows, all kinds of stuff.  I have a ton of ideas now.

The awesome folks at Slice have given me a coupon code for you to use over in their shop for 30% off all design cards and accessories!  Head on over to http://shop.slicecrafts.com and use the promo code MUPPINROCKSTHESLICE (this code is good until this Friday 8/9/13, so hurry on over)!