Cutting Faux Leather with Your Silhouette: Essential Tips

I’ve wanted to write a faux leather tutorial with tips for Silhouette for a long time, but other things seemed to jump in front of it on my to-do list. So when Amy announced her Faux Leather event, I made it a goal to really dive in and create with some faux leather.

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Amy Romeu, hailed as the Queen of Faux Leather by many, recently hosted an event that I attended. I had a great time crafting along with her videos and picked up a lot of great tips that can help in being successful in cutting faux leather with any cutting machine.

Before we get too far in, let’s cover a few things about faux leather that will help in the process.

Faux Leather Information

Can Silhouette machines cut faux leather? Yes!
Can Silhouette machines cut ALL faux leather? NO!
Can all cutting machines cut ALL faux leather? NO!

Faux leather is such a broad term, just like “genuine” leather is. Cutting some faux leathers is easy, some pose greater difficulty, and others simply do not cut well at all.

Factors influencing whether a Silhouette or another machine can cut faux leather include:

• Color – Yes! Many users don’t know this, but color affects how materials cut. Different colors go through different processes in the production and that can affect how it cuts. Some can be tougher than others due to coloring.
• Backing – Faux leathers can have a variety of backing on it. Some don’t have any and are soft and pliable. While others can have a mesh, woven backing which can be difficult to cut through.
• Texture – Faux leathers can come in all kinds of textures such as embossed, glitter, sequins, etc. This will affect how it cuts. Just think of a blade trying to bounce over a texture material to cut a clean line. Texture affects it! The texture also influences the ease of cutting by hand. The same is true for a cutting machine.
• Thickness – There is a wide array of thicknesses for faux leather. Super thin ones can be too pliable and just smoosh around on the cutting mat. Thicker ones may need multiple passes to cut through and a longer blade such as the Deep Cut blade.
• Composition – Faux leather is such a broad term. The definition of “faux” is artificial or fake. So keep in mind that faux leather is fake leather.
  What it is made of?
  A wide variety of things. Plastic mostly. For instance, I ordered some leather on Amazon and it is PU Leather. It is by definition, artificial leather, crafted from a thermoplastic polymer commonly employed in the production of furniture or shoes.
  Faux leather = fake leather = plastic

Supplies I Used:

• Silhouette Cameo 5 – other Silhouette models can also cut faux leather!
  available at CrafterCuts or Silhouette America
• Silhouette 2 mm Manual Blade (this is what I used – more info below), Premium blade or Deep Cut blade, Silhouette Autoblade, 1 mm Manual blade, Silhouette blade
  available at CrafterCuts (code SECRETS for 10% off) or Silhouette America (code 10OFF for 10% off)
• Silhouette cutting mat – CrafterCuts or Silhouette America
• Faux Leather from Craft Chameleon
• Faux Leather from Amazon
• Faux Leather from The Polka Dotted Peach
• Blue painters tape
• Silhouette hook or other sharp tool
• Brayer (optional but useful)
• Scraps of HTV (project dependent)
• Fabric glue (project dependent)
• Earring hardware (project dependent)
• Files by Amy Romeu – Red Truck Christmas Ornament, Initial Christmas Ornament, Snowflake Earrings File, Red Cardinal Ornament

So the first place to start is to gather your supplies for whatever you are working on. I was so excited for these projects and I knew I would be creating several, so I pulled out all my faux leathers and my scrap HTV. I have several boxes of scrap HTV and it’s a great way to use it by adding it to faux leather projects.

Keep it a secret, but I actually obtained more faux leather than shown because I needed to test several during these projects. And once I went down that rabbit hole, I found many patterns I wanted to collect.

Tips for Cutting Faux Leather with Silhouette

• Cut the faux leather down to size and give yourself some extra space for taping down the edges to the cutting mat.

• Place the faux leather front facing down on the cutting mat, so you are cutting through the backside first.
  **NOTE: if cutting real leather, DO NOT place it face down or you can ruin the finish on the real leather. That can be a very expensive mistake!

• Utilize a reliable sticky cutting mat to secure the materials in place during the cutting process. Using a brayer to smooth the materials down to secure it. If the materials shift during the cut, the cut may fail, or your blade might become stuck.

• Securely tape down the material edges. I found that using longer pieces of tape not only ensured a better hold but also reduced the risk of it getting caught in the machine during cutting. You can also reuse painter’s tape if removed carefully at the end.

• For best results, keep the painters tape away from the edges of the cutting mat so it is not going under the rollers. Any change in the surface area under the rollers and it can cause it to lose grip or the left and right roller to not move at the same rate, which can cause issues.

• When using a Silhouette cutting mat, you can use the grid for exact placement for lining up your materials and your design. If you load the mat properly, the on-screen design will align with the Silhouette cutting mat. Third party cutting mats may not line up and it will be a guessing game for design placement and alignment.

• Give yourself a good allowance and grace because you may still mess up, just like I did in the photo above. I would recommend that you cut a little bit excess of the faux leather and not try to cut through the painters tape as it can affect the cut results. The cut was ok in this instance, but it went off my faux leather, so I ended up cutting another truck piece.

• For tips on lining things up check out this tutorial HERE. I use this method all the time and still make mistakes. Remember to “measure twice, cut once.” But, I find I make the most mistakes if I’m rushing or I tell myself it will be just a quick project.

• Test cut, test cut, test cut!!!

• I used a 2 mm Manual blade for all of my faux leather cuts. This blade is the equivalent of the older style Premium blade, it’s just redesigned to fit directly into the newer model machines housing without needing an adapter.
  The 2 mm Manual blade (or Deep Cut blade) allows you to go from 1-20 in the blade depth settings. All faux leather will vary and some can be cut with a regular blade that is 1-10 settings, while others may need a higher blade depth than 10. Test cuts are the way you will know.

• Do not unload the mat after you cut!!! Check to see how well it cut.
  Having a thread or two is not a bad thing! Grab a sharp pair of scissors and simply snip it.

• If it does not lift easily or has more than just a few threads hanging on, send the cut again. If you have not unloaded the cutting mat, it should cut again in the exact same place. If you unload the cutting mat, it will be a hope and a prayer trying to get it lined up perfectly again to cut in the same place.

• Some faux leathers may take more than 1 pass and this is why test cutting is such an important step. I write down the settings that worked for each of the materials I test and keep a log so I can refer back to it. It is not a bad thing to use more than 1 pass with certain projects. I find with thicker materials, you can get a cleaner cut when you are not trying to force the machine to do it all at once time. However, for thinner materials such as adhesive vinyl or regular cardstock, multiple passes shouldn’t be necessary if the blade is installed properly.

• This is white faux leather from Craft Chameleon.
  I used the 2 mm Manual blade (equivalent of the Deep Cut blade) .
  Blade depth – 9
  Force – 30
  Passes – 2

For more details on what blade depth and force are, check out this in-depth tutorial on the Silhouette Send tab HERE.

• Once the cut is successful, unload the mat, remove the painter’s tape – it can be reused and carefully peel away the excess. Snip any threads as you carefully remove the excess so you do not stretch the design.

• When cutting, check the blade regularly for debris stuck to it or inside the cap. The fibers of the faux leather can hinder the cut results.

• It is perfectly normal to have to increase the settings of the blade as you cut materials. A blade cutting any material is going to dull with usage. Keep in mind that you are cutting through plastic and fibers. That will cause a blade to wear differently than other materials.

For this design I used the Red Truck Ornament file from Amy Romeu and there is a front and back layer cut from faux leather that will be glued together. The rest of the design is cut from HTV, so I swapped out my blade for my HTV blade and set up my cutting mat to cut different colors of scraps at the same time.

I used the Cut by Fill Color so I could set up different cut settings for my Smooth HTV versus my Glitter HTV. The Autoblade did all the work to change the settings once set up. Check out this tutorial HERE for tips on cutting by line or fill color – they are the same.

And then I set up my cutting mat to match exactly what I had set up on the Silhouette software. Check out tips on cutting multiple colors at the same time HERE.

Then I simply weeded the design and pressed the pieces on according to Amy’s instructions. I also cut this design out of cardstock and adhesive vinyl too! The faux leather ornament is on the left and the cardstock ornament is on the right.

Check out Amy Romeu’s YouTube video HERE for instructions on the assembly. Even though she is using a Cricut machine to cut, the process and tips are useful.

I was having so much fun cutting faux leather that I couldn’t stop and wanted to test more!

Next, I used this Silver Embossed Leather from Craft Chameleon with the Initial Ornament file.

I followed the same tips as above and taped it securely to my cutting mat.

If you compare this photo to the first one, you’ll notice that the backing differs on the white versus this silver embossed piece. That can affect the cut settings and results. The woven backing texture can be a bit more difficult to cut and may require higher settings and more passes to cut cleanly.

I used the 2 mm Manual blade (equivalent of the Deep Cut blade).
Blade depth – 9
Force – 30
Passes – 2-3
however, that was still not a clean cut, so I then increased the Blade depth to 11 and did 2 more passes.

In this case, the Embossed texture on the front is uneven and can affect the cut.

I did not have all the supplies to finish this out as Amy did, so I used what I had on hand and made my own holly berries and leaves. The holly leaves are drawn from scratch in Silhouette Studio. If you want to learn how, I show step-by-step in the Designing in Silhouette Studio – Creating Keepsake Ornaments class HERE. I cut the leaves from cardstock, painted some small craft balls, and then glued it all onto the ornament.

Check out Amy Romeu’s Initial Faux Leather Ornament YouTube video HERE for more details on this project. I picked up a neat trick for tying bows and ornament hangers in Amy’s videos, so make sure to check that out too!

In both the designs shown above, the faux leather was cut for the front and the backside and then glued together so it had a finished look. But for this next project, I used Siser Metal HTV and adhered it to the backside of the white faux leather from Craft Chameleon before cutting.

I pressed it once with the carrier sheet on and then a second time without the carrier sheet for just a few seconds. The second press allows the texture of the faux leather to show through and it is gorgeous! Photos do not do it justice.

But keep in mind, anytime you add something to a material, that can change the cut settings.

I used the 2 mm Manual blade (equivalent to the Premium blade).
Blade depth – 10
Force – 30
Passes – 1
And I probably could have done one more pass.

Now, what you’ll notice is that all of the pieces are still attached. However, they easily popped out and I only had a few threads to snip. This actually worked better for the next steps as I could keep it all organized in one place until I was ready to press.

I loved the finished look of the Siser Metal HTV on the backside! And I used up a few scraps of Glitter HTV, not much, but it is the perfect project for those scraps that you might have.

Check out the video on these Faux Leather Holiday Earrings HERE by Amy Romeu.

And here is one more faux leather design cut with my Silhouette.

This was using the Cardinal Christmas Ornament Design and a piece of blue patterned faux leather from The Polka Dotted Peach.

Find the Faux Leather Cardinal Ornament video HERE on Amy’s YouTube channel.

I had so much fun creating along with this event and now have faux leather for many more projects.

I hope those tips help you to be successful with cutting faux leather with your Silhouette machine.

You can still purchase the VIP package for the Faux-La-La Crafting Fun and join in on the fun. You get the files for all the projects, all the videos in one place, a printable guide, and more! Check it out HERE for all the details.

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Enjoy !

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