This post contains affiliate links.
Updated for 2022!
If you are a serious quilter, or just want a cutting machine for fabric, I will show some of the best die cut machines for fabric and felt. The best kind of machine for cutting fabric and felt is going to be a manual die cut machine.
A digital die cut machine will work, and it may be a good option if you only need a few pieces cut now and then, but if you want to cut anything more than a few pieces of fabric, a manual die cut machine is better. Another drawback to most digital machines is your fabric needs to be backed to stabilize it. This, obviously, is not ideal for most quilters and sewers.
Now the best machine is going to depend on your wants and needs. If you are a quilter and looking to get perfect cuts with multiple fabrics you are going to have different needs then a crafter who makes felt mobiles or a sewer looking to easily cut digital sewing patterns. I’ve broken down my top picks the best machines to cut fabric and felt depending on your needs.
| Best Overall | Best for Felt | Best for Serious Quilters | Best for Crafters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sizzix Big Shot Pro | Accucquilt GO! Me Fabric Cutter | Accuquilt Studio 2 Fabric Cutter | Cricut Maker |
 |  |  |  |
| Buy At Sizzix | Buy At Accuquilt | Buy At Accuquilt | Buy At Cricut |
Why Manual Die Cut Machines are Best for Cutting Fabric
- No cutting mat. A manual die cut machine, unlike a digital machine, does not require an adhesive mat. If you do use a digital die cut machine to cut fabric, you have to make sure the mat is very sticky.
- Simplicity. There are no blades that can become dull and no need to spend time experimenting with various pressure and blade depth settings.
- Cut multiple layers of fabric. A manual die cut machine can cut multiple layers of fabric at once. With a digital die cut machine, users are limited to cutting one layer piece at a time, but some manual machines can cut up to 10 layers at once.
- Freedom to cut bigger dies. With the Bigz dies from Sizzix, users can cut pieces 2 feet in length.
Top die cut machines for cutting fabric
Machines like the Cricut Cuttlebug and Spellbinders Grand Calibur are some manual die cut machines for cutting fabric, but they aren’t the best. These machines don’t have a large working platform and aren’t as well built as some other machines on the market.
Best Overall: Sizzix Big Shot Pro
The Sizzix Big Shot Pro is the best cutting machine for fabric and felt overall because it has great options for your casual quilter but also the ability to cut and emboss many other materials. Making it very versatile and functional. Read my full review for the Big Shot Pro.
It is the Big Shot’s bigger brother. If you are interested in a Sizzix machine but want a larger machine for quilting, then the Big Shot Pro is a good choice.
But the machine is heavy, weighing 44lbs, so it’s not transportable, but it certainly is sturdy. The machine has a wide 13″ opening and a large working platform, making it easier to prepare your cutting dies. The Big Shot Pro can cut up to 8 pieces of fabric, which means huge time savings.
The Big Shot Pro comes in two packages:
- Big Shot Pro with Standard Accessories (Amazon Link)
- Big Shot Pro with Extended Accessories (quilter edition) (Amazon Link)
If you are planning on cutting long pieces of fabric that are 2 feet in length, then you’ll want to get the machine with the extended accessories.
| Sizzix Big Shot Pro Pros | Sizzix Big Shot Pro Cons |
|---|---|
| – Cut and emboss up to 13″ wide | – Heavy, not as transportable |
| – Very sturdy | – Larger dies are more expensive |
| – Works with virtually any die on the market | |
| – Cut up to 8 pieces of fabric at once | |
| – Three-year limited warranty |
Best for Felt: Accucquilt GO! Me Fabric Cutter
The Accuquilt GO! Me is an affordable and great solution for beginners. The sides of the machine fold up and weighs only 8.5lbs, making it super easy to use the carry handle to carry it around. This Accuquilt cutter can cut up to 6 layers of cotton at once.
Now you may come across the GO! Baby machine. This machine has been discontinued and the GO! Me replaced it but they were more or less the same machine.
The GO! Me comes in a handy starter kit complete with several dies, patterns and even some materials and thread to get you going on your first project.
It has a 6″ opening and is compatible with any GO! that are 6″ or less in width which gives you over 130 dies to choose from!
| Accucquilt GO! Me Pros | Accucquilt GO! Me Cons |
|---|---|
| – Folds up making it very portable | – Limited 6″ cutting width |
| – Cut up to 6 pieces of fabric at once | – Not compatible with other dies from other manufacturers |
| – One-year limited warranty | |
| – More than 130 dies to choose from | |
| – Inexpensive |
Best for Serious Quilters: Accuquilt Studio 2 Fabric Cutter
The Accuquilt Studio 2 Fabric Cutter is specifically designed for quilt shop owners, professional quilters, and passionate quilters. The Studio 2 machine has the largest cutting width on the market, being able to cut up to 16 inches wide.
The machine can also cut up to 10 layers of 100% cotton fabric at once. This means you can cut hundreds of pieces quickly especially if you are using multiple dies. It even cuts 90% faster than the competition.
To save space, the machine has a foldable base, making it easier for storage. But it is heavy weighing 42lbs, which is both good and bad. Good since you don’t need to worry about the machine moving while you are cutting. Bad since it’s heavy to move on and off your work space.
The AccuQuilte Studio 2 has over 600 dies to choose from. 400 are from the Studio line and another 200 can be used from the GO! line. But an adapter is needed to use the GO! dies and you can only cut up to 6 layers of cotton at a time.
Read my full review of the Studio 2 to get all the details. If you aren’t sure about the price, I talked to quilters to see if they thought AccuQuilt was worth it. Find out their thoughts in my article, Is AccuQuilt Worth It? 10 Quilters Weigh-in.
| Accucquilt Studio 2 Pros | Accucquilt Studio 2 Cons |
|---|---|
| – Wide 16″ width | – Expensive |
| – Cut up to 10 layers of fabric at once | – Weighs 42 pounds. |
| – Folding base for space savings | – Larger dies are more expensive |
| – Three-year limited warranty | |
| – Over 600 die options |
Best for Crafters: Cricut Maker
The Cricut Maker is one of the few digital die cutting machines I would recommend for sewers or quilts. The Maker has a rotary blade which lets you cut fabric without using a stabilized backing. The Maker can cut fabric up to 12″ wide and 24″ long when using an extended cutting mat.
Unlike its direct competitor (Silhouette Cameo 4), Cricut includes the rotary blade along with the standard blade. While the Cameo 4 can also cut fabric without a backing you have to purchase the rotary blade separately.
What makes this the best machine for crafters is the ability to cut more than 300 different types of materials from delicate silk to balsa wood. The Design Space software lets you design and cut whatever you can imagine or you can use one of the many premade images available for free or to purchase.
Cricut has also teamed up with Simplicity so you can purchase sewing patterns to use with your machine.
Read my detailed review of the Cricut Maker to get all the info on this amazing machine. You can also read my direct comparison article about Accuquilt vs Cricut – Which is better for fabric and quilting.
| Cricut Maker Pros | Cricut Maker Cons |
|---|---|
| – Cut 12″ width | – Expensive |
| – 500+ digital sewing patterns available | – Only cut 1 layer at a time |
| – Design any image | – Not ideal for quilting |
| – Cut 300+ materials | |
| – Well known brand |
Other Great Machines for Cutting Fabric
Just because these machines didn’t make the cut for the above 4 catagories doesn’t mean they aren’t awesome cutting machines for fabric or felt. Both Sizzix and AccuQuilt make several models of machines that will cut fabric beautifully.
Sizzix Big Shot
The Sizzix Big Shot is a great little cutting machine. It’s one of the smallest Sizzix machines, being able to cut 6″ wide. So if you are looking to cut larger pieces of fabric you’ll want either the Big Shot Plus machine (cuts 8.5″ x 11″), or our Best Overall pick the Big Shot Pro, which has a 13″ wide opening.
The Big Shot is a great machine for smaller projects or at least projects with smaller pieces. It’s also lightweight at only 7.5lbs but unfortunately, it’s not as portable as the AccuQuilt Go!Me since the sides don’t fold up.
This machine has the advantage of being able to use most dies on the market and can cut and emboss a ton of different materials. The Sizzix Fabi and Sizzix Big Kick machines are identical to the Sizzix Big Shot. The Fabi machine comes with different items.
Read my complete review of the Sizzix Big Shot to learn the strengths and weaknesses of this machine.
| Sizzix Big Shot Pros | Sizzix Big Shot Cons |
|---|---|
| – Cut and emboss | – Limited 6″ cutting width |
| – Cuts many different materials | |
| – Lightweight and portable | |
| – Works with dies and folders from other manufacturers | |
| – Three-year limited warranty |
Accucquilt GO! Fabric Cutter
The Accuquilt GO! is one of the most popular manual cutting machines made by Accuquilt. It’s bigger than the GO! Me but much smaller than the Studio 2.
This Accuquilt cutter can also cut up to 6 layers of cotton at once and can take 10″ x 24″ inch dies. There are more than 200 GO! dies available for the GO! machine.
You can purchase the GO! Fabric Cutter on its own or pick it up in a package like the Ready. Set GO! Ultimate Fabric Cutting System. The advantage of the package is it comes with everything you need to make a quilt just add fabric.
| Accucquilt GO! Pros | Accucquilt GO! Cons |
|---|---|
| – Folds up making it portable | – Not compatible with other dies |
| – Cut up to 6 layers of fabric at once | |
| – One-year limited warranty |
Accuquilt GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter
The AccuQuilt Go! Big is an automatic manual die cutter. This means it uses an electric motor instead of a hand crank to run your dies through the cutter. With the push of a button you can cut your fabric faster than you ever thought possible but you, of course, will need a power outlet handy to use it.
The Accuquilt GO! Big Electric has a wide 14″ opening, which means it can handle two dies at once, cutting up to 6 layers of cotton fabric on each die. With its wide opening, it can use any of the 200+ GO! dies available, just keep in mind the Studio dies are not compatible.
This cutter also folds for easy storage and at 23lbs is relatively portable. This makes storing your GO! Big Electric a breeze and it won’t take up most of your work surface when not in use.
| Accucquilt GO! Pros | Accucquilt GO! Cons |
|---|---|
| – Automatic, no hand cranking | – Studio Fabric Cutting Dies are not compatible with GO! Big |
| – Cut up to 6 layers of fabric at once on each die | – Not compatible with dies from other manufacturers |
| – Folds up making it portable | – Needs electricity to work |
| – One-year limited warranty | – Expensive |
What Die Cut Machine is Best for Cutting Fabric?
The best die cut machine for fabric is going to depend on a few factors. How much fabric will you be cutting? Do you want to use your cutting machine for other types of crafts?
AccuQuilt does specifically market their machines to sewists and quilters so their dies are made for cutting all types of fabric. Whereas Sizzix are more of an overall craft cutter being able to cut many different materials and emboss as well.
The Cricut Maker is the perfect option if you want to dabble in all types of materials from delicate fabric to wood. And also have the ability to design your own images not just use out of the box dies.
What machine do you like best? Leave us a comment!
