Cutting Out Small Felt Shapes... With Blu Tack!

If you've ever had trouble cutting out small and fiddly pattern pieces from felt then today's blog post is for you!

ADVERTISEMENT: This tutorial is sponsored by Bostik, and is part of a series of crafty projects I'm creating to promote their range of adhesives. Click here to see all the posts in the series!

This is the third post I've shared using Bostik's products this week. On Monday I made fantastic festival hairbands using Bostik's Power Repair glue, then on Wednesday I made fun travel-themed notecards using their PVA Glue, Glu Dots and Micro Dots.

Today I'm sharing a Blu Tack Hack: a new way to use that sticky blue stuff we all love using to put up posters!

When you're using a small paper template to cut out a tiny felt shape, I always recommend cutting out a bit of felt slightly bigger than the template. This is much easier to work with than handling a large piece of felt.

When you go to cut out the shape though, how do you hold the template in place?

For larger pattern pieces you could use pins, but not for a little shape like this. You can hold the paper onto the felt with your non-dominant hand, but this takes practice and the paper can slide about a bit as you're cutting and make your finished shape much less accurate.

I've sometimes recommended using a bit of clear sticky tape to hold shapes in position but, of course, your scissors will get sticky from cutting through the tape and you can't re-use the template more than a couple of times before it'll start getting bulky from too many layers of tape.

So... why not try using a tiny piece of Blu Tack to hold the paper template in place?

Make a little ball of the Blu Tack...

... then press it as flat as possible onto the back of your pattern piece, making sure that none overlaps the edge of the shape. 

Press the template firmly onto the piece of felt...

... and the Blu Tack will hold the template in position as you cut around it!

 

I always use embroidery scissors for cutting out small felt shapes: look how much smaller and narrower the blades of the small scissors are compared with my sewing scissors! Using embroidery scissors will give you a lot more precision and control when cutting small or detailed shapes.

 

Once you've cut out the shape, peel off the template then carefully remove the Blu Tack and discard it. Easy peasy!

 
If you're worried about the Blu Tack leaving an oily mark on your felt or pulling away a few of the fibres as you remove it, simply add the Blu Tack to the front of the template so it'll be attached to what will become the back of your cut out felt shape.

DISCLOSURE: this post is sponsored by Bostik, who also provided the Blu Tack for my #BluTackHack.

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