Trying out some new tricks with old tools - Sizzix Big Kick part 2

After my previous discovery of cutting cardboard with the Big Kick, I thought I would try something new to cut. 

Fabric: Thick cotton - Going through boxes in storage, I found my mom's huge fabric stash and some pink cotton denim like fabric that surely is from the 90s and thought what a better test for the machine! (*Note this was cotton fabric without any stiffener or backing - I am going to see what that works like at another time but did not have any handy.) I passed it through twice to be safe but that worked really well too!

Fabric: Stretch Denim - Inspired by the results on the cotton fabric I decided to try to repurpose the fabric from a pair of jeans. These were a fairly modern pair of jeans which have a seemingly elastic quality since they stretch. This cut was a more of challenge but it worked. When working with this kind of material, keep in mind that you should pass it through at least three times and use paper as a shim, if necessary, to make sure that there will enough pressure on the die to make a clean cut. On the pics below you can see that without the multiple passes and shim, it did not cut cleanly. The second image shows the cut after the three passes and using a sheet of cardstock as a shim.

 

It took a few repeated passes and some tricks to make it work better, but it was a success. (I would think that someone with a newer cutting machine may have an easier time to achieve good results.) 

I am happy to know that I have extra options for my tool arsenal and hope that my experiments inspire you to try your dies on fabric or different materials.