If you’re anything like us, your car can go from clean to chaotic in no time. We’re always on the hunt for better ways to keep it neat and tidy. So, we came up with this DIY Car Trash Bag you can make with the help of your Cricut.

This Cricut project is so easy to make and so convenient. Our two favorite features: it’s reusable and adorable! Cricut beginners, this is a great fabric craft project to start with!

DIY Car Trash Bag

Font used: Click Clack Font: https://makersgonnalearn.com/fonts/cl…

Materials used:

• Terrazo Fabric: https://www.hobbylobby.com/Fabric-Sew… (outer fabric)
• Burnt Orange Fabric: https://www.hobbylobby.com/Fabric-Sew… (inner lining)
• White Thread: https://amzn.to/3tTeOFE
• Thread Ripper: https://amzn.to/3OiqeLg
• Sewing Machine: https://amzn.to/39O4W91
• Rotary Blade: https://amzn.to/3tWk4bv
• Vinyl Fuse Matte: https://amzn.to/39KRVx7
• Cricut Maker: https://amzn.to/3OzZWUs
• Fabric Grip Mat: https://amzn.to/3HMmhM5 (Choose 12×24 inch mat.)
• Cricut Mini Press: https://amzn.to/3A4mWXo
• Cricut Spatula: https://amzn.to/3bogws9
• Heat n Bond: https://amzn.to/39RJPme
• Sewing Pins: https://amzn.to/39I6vFx
• Sewing Clips: https://amzn.to/3IIbIdK
• Scissors: https://amzn.to/3yFUhpo
• Small Scissors: https://amzn.to/3aInbNA
• Cricut Maker: https://amzn.to/3uMWjmF
• Flexible Stretchable Fabric Glue

Step-by-step tutorial:

Working in Design Space:

1 – In Design Space, add a square to your canvas. Unlock it and size it as needed. We made ours 11 by 20.5 inches. You’ll need 3 of these, so duplicate the rectangle twice.

2 – Add another rectangle to Design Space and size it to 4 by 14 inches. This will be the strap/handle.

3 – Click Make It. Choose On the Mat and remember to select your 12 by 24 inch mat. Select continue and connect to your machine.

4 – Choose your material. We find that with the Maker, we can leave it on default pressure with the rotary blade, but with the Maker 3, it works better with more pressure. You might want to experiment with a scrap piece of fabric with your machine to see which works best for you.

5 – Press your fabric with an iron or EasyPress to remove wrinkles. Lay the mat on the fabric and cut around with a pair of scissors. Trim it to fit well on the cutting mat. Use your brayer to make sure it is laying flat on the mat, with no wrinkles.

Pro Tip: Be aware that the fabric grip mat is quite sticky!

Cutting the fabric:

6 – Remove the fine point blade and replace it with the rotary blade.

7 – Cut your fabric. If there are any little snags when you remove the fabric from the mat, you can snip those with a pair of scissors. Repeat with each of your pieces of fabric.

8 – You can cut the Vinyl Fuse separately, or you can adhere it to the lining fabric before cutting. Read the Vinyl Fuse instructions before using. Ours says: Use a medium heat setting. Remove it from the release paper and place sticky side down on the fabric.

Place it on the side of the fabric that you want showing. Lay the paper that you removed from the Vinyl Fuse over top to protect the EasyPress/iron and the fabric. Press it on. Cut with your Cricut placing it on the mat bonded side up.

Pro Tip: Remember to change the material setting to Light Cotton Two Layers if you’re cutting the fabric with the Vinyl Fuse already attached. Use More Pressure.

Sewing the trash bag:

9 – Fold the patterned fabric (your outer layer) in half with right sides together, matching the shorter edges together. Pin or clip to hold. Sew along the side edges using a quarter-inch seam allowance.

10 – Repeat for the inner lining. Make sure the waterproof (fused) side on the inside when folding.

11- With the pocket you have sewn out of the patterned fabric, bring the seams together. Measure 1.5 inches down from the corner. Mark a line there for sewing. Repeat with the other corner. Do the same thing for the lining fabric.

12 – Pin the corners in place. Sew across those lines you have drawn. Once sewn, cut off the corners.

13 – Keep the lining fabric as is. Turn the outer fabric right-side out. Push the corners out really well.

Sewing the strap:

14 – Fold the strap piece in half along the long edges. Iron. Fold up the bottom edge and press that as well.

15 – Open the strap up and fold the outer edges into the middle (where the fold line is). Press. Fold it back along that middle line and press again.

16 – Sew along the open long edge and then across the bottom where you folded it in and back up the other side.

17 – Place the raw end of the strap along the top edge of the outer fabric bag and sew in place.

Pro Tip: It’s a good idea to measure where you’re placing that end of the strap so you can line the other end up evenly later one.

Assembling the bag:

18 – Place the outer piece of your bag inside the inner one, lining up the seams. Pin or clip to secure. Sew all the way around that top edge with a quarter inch seam allowance, leaving a gap of a few inches to be able to turn it right side out.

19 – Turn right side out. Pin along the top edge, making sure that the spot where you left the opening in all tucked in properly. Top stitch around the top edge. Remember to pull the strap out so you don’t accidentally sew it.

20 – Add a piece of Velcro on the bag where the strap will be attached. Place the corresponding piece of Velcro on the end of the strap. Although these are adhesive, it’s a good idea to tack them in place with a few stitches too. We found that the adhesive on the Velcro gummed up the needle, so instead of sewing, we used fabric glue to secure them. You could hand sew if you prefer.

Back in Design Space:

21 – Now, back to Design Space to create a monogram for this car trash bag. We used the font Click Clack and typed in the person’s initials. Size it as you wish to fit the bag.

22 – Apply Heat and Bond to the fabric you’re using for the monogram. Peel off the backing. Use your brayer to adhere to the cutting mat with shiny side up.

23 – In Design Space, click Make It. Be sure to mirror your design. Cut it out.

Pro Tip: There is a Bonded Fabric setting but it uses the Fine Point Blade. So, we chose Cotton and then added More Pressure so we could still cut with the rotary blade.

24 – Remove the letters from the mat. You might need to use your TrueControl Knife to cut through any places where your machine didn’t cut completely. Use your EasyPress to press the letter appliques in place.

Have you ever used your Cricut machine with your embroidery projects? Whether you’re a Cricut beginner or a seasoned pro when it comes to using your die cutting machine with embroidery, you’re going to want to check out our helpful embroidery Cricut hack.

Embroidery Cricut Hack

We have an amazing Cricut hack for embroidery that you probably didn’t even know you needed! Want to turn your designs into an embroidery craft? This is a must-see!

Materials we used:

Cut Files/Fonts Used: https://makersgonnalearn.com/cut_files/leaf-3/

• Stick and Stitch – https://amzn.to/3wVyERe
• Embroidery Floss – https://amzn.to/3GoxRfQ
• Needles – https://amzn.to/3z3XW20
• Embroidery Hoop – https://amzn.to/3lO4jPg
• Cricut Pen – https://amzn.to/38ph8MP
• Mats – https://amzn.to/3yZ8Cz7
• Measuring tape

Step-by-step tutorial:

Working in Design Space:

1 – Download the Monstera Leaf file from Makers Gonna Learn. Upload into Design Space, choosing Complex. Choose the Cut Image option.

Pro Tip: You could use the Print then Cut image and print it directly on the Stick and Stitch with your printer. Because this then washes away though, that’s a waste of a lot of ink so we prefer the Cricut pen method.

2 – Add to your canvas. This file comes in quite large, so you will want to size it down so you can work with it more easily.

3 – Measure the space available on your surface so you can determine just how large your design should be.

Fine tuning your design:

4 – Duplicate your design. We then made one of the leaves smaller than the other, changed the color, and rotated it. You can create your design any way you’d like.

5 – If you change your design from a Basic Cut to a Pen function, you will see that where the two leaves overlap becomes quite messy looking. To fix that, we’re going to use the Slice function.

Slicing the design to get rid of the excess parts

6 – Select both leaves (while set to Basic Cut) and choose Slice.

7 – Use your Layers Panel to delete the slice results that you want to delete. You can see the layer you need to delete in the image above.

8 – Next, select the two layers indicated in the image above and choose Weld.

9 – If you were to move the green layer out of the way now, you would see the perfect cutout layer beneath. This is exactly what we’re trying to achieve.

10 – Select both layers and change from the Basic Cut function to Pen.

11 – Change the colors to match the design you want. Select both layers and Attach.

Pro Tip: Be sure to use Attach not Weld. See image below for what would happen to your design if you used Weld.

Drawing the design:

12 – With your design sized as needed, press Make It. Press Continue. Connect to your machine. For the material, select Heavy Cardstock (since we’re drawing with the pens, it doesn’t really matter what material you choose).

13 – Load the first pen into Clamp A as directed by Design Space. Place the Stick and Stitch on the mat and load into the machine. Press Play and allow the Cricut to draw the first part of your design.

14 – Once it has drawn the first part, you’ll be prompted to load the second pen. Remove the first one from Clamp A and replace it with the second one. Press Play and let the machine draw.

Pro Tip: When loading a pen into your Cricut, you always want to be sure you hear it “click”.

Note: You’ll see that Cricut has drawn some of the lines that we wanted to be pink with the green pen. An easy way to ensure that you are embroidering it correctly would be to start with the pink shape first. Embroider those lines while they’re still easy to see and distinguish from the ones that are meant to be green.

Embroidering your design:

15 – Trim around your printed design. Remove the backing and place it on your garment, sticky side down. Add an embroidery hoop around your design.

16 – Thread your needle and knot your thread. Bring the needle up on the line that was drawn (point A) and then put it back down a short distance away from where it came up (point B).

17 – Bring the needle back up on the line a short distance away from point B. (point C) Push it back down at about the halfway point between point A and point B. (point D)

18 – From here, continue bringing the needle up a short distance away from the previous point (in this case, point C) and then back down at the halfway point between that previous stitch. (in this case, points C and D). Repeat that step until you reach the end of your embroidery.

19 – When the embroidery is complete. place the embroidered design in water. The Stick and Stitch will start dissolving. You can do this in a bin of water or in the washing machine.

It’s that easy to create a beautiful embroidery project with the help of your Cricut!