This post was created in partnership with Cricut. All opinions are my own. 
I know the new Cricut Maker has had a lot of buzz! I am seeing questions pop up all over our Made for Mermaids Facebook Group (and others) asking if you NEED one as a seamstress 😉 . ONE of the big things Cricut is pushing with the Maker is that it can help with sewing! I am here to share a little bit about the specifics for the SEAMSTRESS and you can decide if it’s right for you or not 🙂 .
If you don’t want to read all the way through, I don’t think this is a ‘game changer’ for me personally and don’t see myself using it anymore than I use my other cutting machines. Let’s get into the details! I’ll go over some pros and cons to the machine specifically for a seamstress. The Cricut Maker is $399- which is $150-$155 more than the Cricut Air Explore 2 or the Silhouette Cameo 3.
1-New Rotary Blade
Pro- The rotary blade allows you to cut fabric with NO backing or bonding! This is different from other machines, because before you needed to add a heat and bond for the blade to work.
Con- It’s slow. I mean slow. I could cut something much faster by hand… even add on printing a pattern. It will also need replacement blades, at $14.99, that’s another cost. 
2- Cuts a variety of fabrics
Pro- From thick to thin- denim, canvas, fleece, felt, knits, silk, ect.
Cons-They said to only cut 1 layer of fabric, so nothing on the fold. The mat is also only 12″ wide so that really limits you (along with other things) on what you can cut.
3- Washable Marking Pen
Pros- You can purchase a washable fabric pen and have all your markings on your pattern. It marks seam allowances, darts, notches, ect. All your markings are done. I immediately thought of my daughter when I saw this. She loves making small quilts and my mom taught her to mark her 1/4″ seam allowance to help her be more precise. This would be great for her!
Cons- It doesn’t come with the machine. It also prolongs the process if your machine is cutting something and then going back with the pen and marking. Look at number 1 con… slow. Also, I ordered one when it released and it still hasn’t shipped. I don’t have a Joanns locally to purchase, so purchasing online was my only option.
4- Fussy Cutting with Snapmat
Pros-In the Design Space app there is an option called snapmat. You take a photo of your mat with the fabric attached and you can move, manipulate and choose where your pieces are cutting… aka fussy cutting!
Cons- You need the app on a phone or tablet, if you don’t have access to one, you can’t use this feature. It’s not available one the computer Design Space software. 
5- Sewing Patterns
Pros- You can you can purchase Simplicity, Riley Blake or Cricut sewing patterns directly in Design Space. The software has all the pieces and markings to send to the machine and the institutions will load for you on the screen.
Cons- You will not be able to load any of your indie patterns in to design space. You are limited to the commercial patterns and directions. The directions look just like normal paper patterns (i.e. no photos, hand holding, and vague instructions). You’re pretty limited unless you can create your own patterns and SVG files on what sewing projects you can do.
Overall I would not tell you to run and buy this machine IF you are like me and a garment seamstress. You are very limited on what you can cut with the machine for several reasons.
1- The mat size is only 12″ wide and you aren’t suppose to cut your fabric on the fold. This in itself really limits on things to CRAFT sewing- not garment sewing. So if you’re more into quilting, doll or stuffie sewing, this might not be a deal breaker for you. If you do want to cut a child’s garment, you might be able to too, if they are small enough.
2- Going off number 1, I alter my patterns for my daughter to fit. She is very tall, already needs a sway back adjustment and is different sizes in her waist, hips and chest. There is no way to adjust or alter the pattern in the Design Space.
3- Going off number 2, Design Space itself is very limiting in terms of what you can do with it. If you are already very creative and want the freedom to make anything your heart desires, you’re going to struggle with trying to use this program. Even compared to the Silhouette software, you can’t control or manipulate individual nodes or points. It was a real bummer for me.
4- I KNOW when you saw that the Maker can cut fabric, you thought “YESSSS IT CAN CUT ALL MY PATTERN PIECES”… but I’m the bearer of bad news… it can not. You can’t load PDF patterns you’ve already purchased in the software to cut. Again, you also have no control and can’t alter the pattern you load. Say you have a doll pattern that you LOVE and you cut it out several times a day for your boutique. Unless you have an SVG file of it, you will have to 1)hope Simplicity, Riley Blake or Cricut have a similar pattern and 2)repurchase through them. You also can’t extract any patterns from Design Space. So what you purchase stays in the program. I don’t see Cricut licensing many small indie designer patterns right after a launch of a new machine; I’m guessing it will be quite sometime until there are a variety of designers and patterns available to purchase..
5- It’s being marketed as more efficient, but honestly it takes so much longer to do all these steps than it would to just cut it normally. You must get the machine out, set it up, load your patterns in to Design Space (which you need internet access to), put fabric on the mat, let the machine cut fabric, mark the fabric, remove it without fraying your fabric (I was told to use the spatula tool to help reduce fraying but that’s another step and tool), then get to making your project. I am at the point in my life where I only have so long to sew- I’m sewing in nap times, between school pick ups and at night. I don’t want to do all those steps and not REALLY save A LOT, if not any time.
To summarize- I think this is for a more specific crafter.
1- If you are a crafter AND craft sewer, you might like this machine. You can cut quilts, small zippy bag type projects, doll items, etc. If you also do paper projects, party planning type crafts and cut vinyl- it may be worth it for you.
2- I can see if you’re a (don’t hate me) more seasoned quilter who might be loosing hand strength, struggle with holding a rotary or cutting a lot of pieces, this might help. On the other hand it’s a bigger, heavier machine and someone who has weaker hand strength might not have the abilities to pull this out- if you had room to keep it out and ready all the time that would be great. I can see maybe my mom using it (sorry Mom, you’re not older 😉 ). She uses an electric AccuQuilt cutter because she was struggling with her hands hurting cutting her quilts. I don’t see her switching to this technology, because she wouldn’t use it for anything else plus her machine cuts tons of layers at once.
3- If you have the knowledge and abilities to create your own SVG files in Illustrator or Inkscape and like small craft projects, you might love it. You could customize a sewing project in those programs and then load it into Design Space.
I personally don’t see myself pulling this out to use. I do occasionally cut HTV {heat transfer vinyl} for garments I’ve sewn, but I’m an Amazon party mom, I don’t quilt and I don’t like sewing tiny things. I do hope to do a comparison post on the Cricut vs Silhoutte because I get asked that A LOT, but I haven’t had enough time to really play with the machines yet to do a proper comparison! I will also use this machine to test a sewing project and show you start to finish how it works so you can see it yourself. That might give you a better idea on whether you need this or not 🙂 .
I appreciate your honest review. I will wait for next machine update then. Maybe they will fix some of the problems you mentioned.
Thanks again.
Just piping in to say I love reading a honest review, they are few and far between 🙂
Thank you Stephanie!
Thanks for this review. My husband bought me the Explore for Xmas thinking it would cut my patterns and was so sad to find it couldn’t. Relieved to know this more expensive one isn’t what I’d want for patterns either, thank you for setting my mind at ease!
We’re so glad it was helpful to you!
This was a very good read. I was just ok the verge of ordering and I decided to do one more check that would change my mind and this popped up! I do appreciate the honesty – detailed and I could relate it to my own experiences so far as a seamstress. Thanks again!
Oops, I did not think my last name would be posted (in previous post). Please remove if possible.
Removed! 🙂
Thank you for your honest review. While I agree with some of your points, I think a couple are lack of experience with the machine. I agree completely that certain things take longer to cut on the machine than by hand – IF you’re savvy with your hand held rotary cutter. I love the precise shapes I can get on the Cricut Maker. I also don’t like cutting rectangles (I know, I know…) so waistbands, leg bands, neck bands are all great on the maker. I can do a bunch at once on a mat and be cutting out other pattern pieces while it cuts – it’s all about multi-tasking. Finally, I agree there aren’t very many indie patterns out there for the Maker and that the ones in Design Space can be expensive, repetitive and a bit “old school” – not to mention the terrible tutorials. However, I’ve successfully taken a few indie patterns and converted them over myself using separate design software. It certainly takes some time and I only do it for patterns that I will use multiple times. However, I did three of the Made for Mermaids dolls for Christmas gifts and I cut all of the pieces on my Cricut Maker. They turned out wonderful. Thanks again for a great review. I’m glad to see the Maker getting some blog-press.
So in response to: “Cons- You will not be able to load any of your indie patterns in to design space. You are limited to the commercial patterns and directions.”
That’s not entirely true. It’s pretty easy to convert a PDF/image pattern into an SVG using free tools, and then bam! Cricut-able. So you can’t load the indie patterns in without doing ANY conversion work, but the amount of work is pretty minimal. Caveat: obviously the pattern piece sizes need to be doable by the machine, and if they cross page lines, there’s more work to do (but of course, there was work to do piecing the pattern together after printing in that case, too).
I’m so glad to read a review which doesn’t sound insincere and sponsored. I’m not a sewer, I’m a crafter. I’m just wondering if you think this would cut thick glitter card stock and thick faux leather easily? I don’t want to be limited to cricut brands or brands for other machines. I’m just scared I’ll buy this and it won’t cut the material that I’m going to import. Do you think it could handle most material? I don’t mind a bit of fraying here and there, the designs are tricky to cut by hand so I would do an awful job of it myself
I believe it would cut those just fine. I know it has a lot more power than the explorer so should work well on thicker materials!
I really appreciate this review. I am a garment sewer but I’m actually considering the Maker for my small business sewing decorative home goods. Most reviews don’t cover what it requires to create your own designs and have the Maker cut them. I’m actually illustrator proficient and could definitely create my own svgs so your review has been very helpful. It’s also good to know that this thing is slow. Thanks for your honesty!
So is there a machine that is good for garment cutting?
Not that I know of Deanna. They are all pretty small!
I just took a class at my local maker space. They now have lasers that cut fabric. Some of the folks in my class are garment sewers and were talking about the excellent precision. Commercial CO2 lasers have a large enough surface area to cut garment pieces.
Thanks, this is the information I need to research. I hate cutting out pattern pieces, and I’m not good at it. Getting a more advanced non-Cricut machine sounds like the best/only option. I love my Air 2 for cutting stencils and other items, and I’m pretty good at Inkscape, but I’m not about to heat and bond fabric.
Thank you so much. So many of the reviews make this sound like the ‘greatest thing since sliced bread’. It’s nice to see a more honest review. Please keep up the great work.
I am glad to see your post. I do embroidery work, with a lot of applique. Even though I use CorelDraw frequently alongside my embroidery program, I found out exactly how limited you are with the Cricket Products. SVG file imports don’t transfer right, there is no way to save what you did do in the program to use in another program (for me, it is embroidery), and the hassle of upload, download to make a cut. I also don’t like the cloud storage. I prefer to keep my ideas private, and don’t think you should have to online and share to the world unless you want to.
I was impressed to see how well it cut my applique fabric, the rotary cutter is the bomb. The machine is very well made. I can see why crafters love it, and wish there was one like it for the sewing population.
Guess I have another tool in the closet, or hopefully I can re-sell it. Wish there would have been more info that explained things a little better. I found your page here about 15 pages later in Google search. All the 1st pages talked about how well it did, but nothing of the limitations.
Great honest review. I have the Brother Scan and Cut. I wish they would put a rotary blade on that machine because it would be perfect! I make dance costumes and I like to be able to cut metallic knit into appliqués which the Brother struggles to do. I was considering getting the Cricut just for the rotary blade but it doesn’t sound like I’d be able to do what I want with it like I can with the Brother.
Thanks for this review! Even though I have the maker now, it was good reading this.
I still like it, but good to hear someone put it in perspective. I am a hobby sewer for tiny things like makeup bags, pillows and pouches. I also dabble also in paper crafting for gift cards, tags and the like.
I am probably the right person to be buying this machine but I can’t see anything more than what I do being supported. For example, I also am doing some quilting now and I can see already, this is beyond what the machine can help with. I really wish the thing could at least cut a fat quarter without trimming required =\
Wish I’d seen this during all the research I did last year before buying. My main purpose is to cut patterns for soft toys I make since even rotary cutting gets a little tiresome. Really struggling with getting my own patterns to work.
My main question was how do I print clothing patterns when there is only a 12inch wide space for fabric to go in. An also how would cut on fold work in the machine. I also feel like you still have to cut an prepare the fabric on mats to go in the cricket. I can have my whole pattern cut out an marked in the same time frame it would take to prepare the fabric for the machine an download an setup the pattern in the software.
Thank you for this! My husband just upgraded me to the Maker for my birthday and my first thought was how is this thing supposed to cut my outfits. Looks like it won’t. I sew clothes for me and the kids so this feels like it’s not any better than my old machine. Thinking I’ll return it and add a coverstitch to my collection.
My mom (arthritic) got this machine. I have trouble finding any sewing patterns on the cricut design space app. I like that you mentioned it could help elders with the cutting part. The time thing is not a problem for me. I just set it and go make coffee, help my mom, or deal with my toddler.