Hey everyone! I just bought a glow forge with the idea of using it for different fashion purposes, like engraving in certain fabric and cutting patterns. Any one here use their machine for similar purposes? Would love some advice on how to move forward and use the machine properly and most efficiently. Thanks in advance!
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I haven’t done anything like this but I am really excited to see how things turn out if you do. I’ve seen a laser used to make “stress” lines in jeans before so there has to be a way right?
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I have actually played with this. It worked really well. You just have to play with the settings to get the desired effect.
I let the jeans hang out the front with the door closed on them (I do not have a Pro with the pass-thru).
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If you search the forum for “fabric” you’ll get lots of hits.
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we probably saw the same video! I saw the one about how Levi was making custom denim with laser engraving and figured it would be possible with the Glowforge. If I find out, I will definitely let you know!
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what part worked really well for you? any tips? I have the pro so I am assuming the passthrough ability will make things a bit easier but I know I still have a lot of testing to do regardless.
Will do! Thanks for the advice!
I was engraving solid shapes. It was really easy as long as I kept the space very flat and even.
Then I would just adjust the power based on how much “white” I wanted shown. (More power = lighter color, as the threads are broken down more.)
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I haven’t worked with jeans yet, but i did use it to cut material for some tshirts. I ironed on double sided fabric adhesive. It makes the material fairly stiff and so easy to cut. Then, once it’s cut, just iron it on your tshirt, bag, etc. There are no frayed threads to deal with and there are so many patterned fabrics! You can make some cute stuff!
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Will try tonight! thanks for the advice!
I figured once I’m able to figure this whole thing out it’ll be the best option for cutting my patterns. I am still new to the Glowforge but the precision is incredible. Thanks for your input!
There are some people who do quilting stuff here too. You might want to search for that too, fabric arts and all.
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I also have a passthrough but found the door trick the better way to go. I even found that rolling the fabric in the back was easier than using the passthrough.
As I was using heavy Nylon canvas I was very pleased to have it seal the edges of the cut, and presume a bit of polyester in the jeans would do the same where cotton would fall apart.
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I definitely have to look into that. Sounds dope. Thanks for the feedback
what door trick are you referring to? Im not familiar. I was cutting some fabric with pass through yesterday and noticed that having fabric on actual roll would help significantly. Is that what you were talking about or were you just referring to rolling the fabric up in the back. Also, any advice on what to place under the fabric to keep the surface as smooth as possible?
The fabric I have was either 48" or 60" wide so I was using a slice across at the width needed, hanging out the door in front, and rolled in back. You will need to look up the various ways of adhering the fabric to cheap plywood or Selkima mats or Evan’s vacuum box noted above.
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If you use the adhesive spray mounting method, I highly suggest acrylic sprayed with adhesive so that it doesn’t leave resin smoke on your cloth!
to avoid cut bits of fabric lifting up and getting blown around by the air-assist, when cutting patterns for masks I dialed in cut settings that just barely cut through my material, leaving a few strands weakened but still holding. Most of the bits will pull apart by hand, although a few will have a thread or two that holds strong and requires one or two quick snips with some scissors. I don’t use anything sticky, just a few small weak magnets around the perimeter.
Optimizing the file to force a specific cutting order can help.
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I do a lot of engraving on fabric. Here is a post that has a good bit of information on denim that I did: Bailey Heyman on Instagram: "For those still having trouble with denim in the glowforge. Keep in mind not all denim is the same. You have to tailor your settings to the properties of the denim. This here is 7oz no stretch denim. It was not as high weight as ideal and so I used fusible interfacing on the back. As you can see, the fabric held together with no problem from the laser engraving. Settings: 12 power, full speed, 225 lpi, and 2 passes"
As far as using it for patterns, yup! I have done the trace function to have the GF cut out my standard bodice pattern and it worked well. I mainly use it to cut out handy tools to help with sewing. Things like guides for making darts.
Another fun thing to use it for is to make hangers that help organize your creations:
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