How to Make Felt Eyes with a Cricut Joy

This has been a super requested tutorial! I have seen so many people asking how to make felt eyes with a Cricut Joy. I, myself, have wondered and tried to figure out this same question. So, when I finally bought the Cricut Joy, I knew I had to test this out. And guess what? I found out it’s possible to make the felt eyes with your Joy!

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Cutting the felt with the fine point blade was a little tricky to figure out, but I tested it a few different ways and finally found the easiest way to get a clean cut. There is a secret weapon that you will need for the back of the felt, Heat n Bond, which I’ll explain more about later.

I know if you are a crocheter and have been on Social Media here lately, you have probably seen all the adorable plushies made with Parfait Chunky Yarn. And, they always have these adorable eyes on them that look so complicated to make. Trust me, they are easier to make than they seem!

I made some mini Octopi in Parfait Chunky to glue my eyes on –

Aren’t they the cutest?! You can find the FREE crochet pattern for them HERE!

Which Cricut can you Use to Make Felt Eyes?

The simple answer is ALL of them! The Explore Air, the Joy and the Maker can all cut through felt if you have the right materials.

I had previously made felt eyes before with my Maker and made a tutorial for that (which you can find HERE.). I always used my rotary blade (which is exclusive for the Maker) to cut them because I couldn’t get my fine point blade to work with the felt. For awhile I assumed that you had to have the maker to cut felt because you needed the rotary blade, but I was wrong!

You can definitely cut felt with a fine point blade, it just take a couple extra steps.

How to Cut Felt with a Fine Point Blade

So, there are a few simple tricks that you can use to get the Fine Point Blade to cut cleanly through the felt.

• Line the back of the felt with the Heat n Bond. This makes sure that the felt can get a good grip on the mat and won’t move because we will be cutting the felt on a harder setting.
• To cut the felt, we will be using the Heavy Card Stock Setting. You will want to go into design space, go to ‘Manage Custom Materials’ and adjust the cutting pressure all the way up to 350 and make sure that it is set to cut 3x
• Make sure your Blade is clean and has no vinyl left on it from previous use.
• It also helps if you mat is newer and pretty sticky. If your mat seems like it has lost most of its stick, it may be time for a new one.

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I’d highly recommend watching the video tutorial as I really go in depth in designing the eyes. There’s a bunch of info in the video!

Supplies You Will Need –

• Cricut Machine (I will be using the Joy, but the process is very similar for all machines)
• Standard Grip Mat
• Felt (I grabbed mine from Hobby Lobby)
• Heat n Bond Ultra Hold
• Iron on Vinyl (HTV) Scraps are great for this project
• Cricut EasyPress Mini (Or some other type of heat source)
• Cricut Mat (Or towel)
• Weeding Tool
• Parchment Paper
• Scissors

How to Make Felt Eyes with your JOY –

You will 1st want to go into design space and design your eyes. I did make the 4 designs that I used a public project page in Cricut Design space. They will already be designed and you should just be able to size them to the desired size you want to make and start cutting. You can find them HERE.

If you want to design your own, I’d highly recommend watching my video on making felt eyes as I go into detail on designing them. Find that video HERE

Preparing your Felt –

The first thing that you will want to do is to prepare your felt. You can cut out a piece of Heat n Bond to the size of your felt. I put my Easy Press Mini on the middle heat setting. Make sure to lay a piece of parchment paper under the felt, between it and the mat, so that if the Heat n Bond overlaps it won’t get anything on the mat when you press it.

Lay the Heat n Bond with the smooth side up and the rough side facing the felt. Press for 2 seconds in each spot across the back.

Let it cool, then peel off the white backing from the felt. Be sure to save this white piece as we will use it later when we press our eyes!

You can now line up the felt on the mat with the heat n bond side down.

Add all the iron on to another mat and make sure its all lined up correctly.

You will cut everything on its regular setting except for the felt. To cut the felt, we will be using the Heavy Card Stock Setting. You will want to go into design space, go to ‘Manage Custom Materials’ and adjust the cutting pressure all the way up to 350 and make sure that it is set to cut 3x.

Once you have done that, go ahead and cut everything. Once you have cut it all out, weed the iron on and peel the felt back. The felt should peel right off leaving the little round dots behind.

Trouble Shooting for the Felt –

If you are still having trouble cutting the felt, even after adjusting the cut pressure up to 350 and the cut is set to cut 3 times, here are a couple things that you might try

1. Make sure your blade is clean. It’s ideal to take the blade out and wipe / blow it out every time you use it. I’ve noticed with cutting the felt that it can get dirty very quickly and the felt can build up in it. By simply pressing the blade out and wiping it off, this can help.
2. You can also adjust the number of times that your machine cuts. The heavy card stock is already set on 3 times, but you could do 4 or even 5 times if it seems like it needs it.
3. Make sure you blade is sharp. How long have you been cutting with the same blade? If you think it’s dull and worn out, it may be time to replace it.

Assembling the Felt Eyes –

Again, I set my mini press on the middle heat setting. You will want to lay down the white piece that we peeled off of the heat n bond and lay it shiny side up. If you don’t lay anything under the eyes when pressing, you will most likely press them to the mat and they won’t want to come off.

You will have to press each color individually. Make sure to lay a piece of parchment paper over the eyes before pressing. I pressed the colored, outer ring first and then the white middles for these.

And, I pressed the White first and the pink middle second for these.

And, that’s how easy it is to learn how to make felt eyes with a Cricut Joy! If you still need some guidance, make sure to watch my VIDEO TUTORIAL as I really go more in detail about the process there.

How to Attach Felt Eyes to Amigurumi

I simply just use a hot glue gun. I’ve never had any problem with doing it this way and they always seem to have a really good hold.

I hope that you have found this tutorial helpful! Whether you have learned how to make felt eyes with a Cricut Joy or made something else from my blog, I’d love to se it! Be sure to tag me @okiegirlblingnthings on Instagram so I can see!