I have had a vinyl cutting machine for years, but it has not seen very much action in quite awhile. I would think about cutting something out and then get sidetracked on something else. Well over the new year holiday a great new friend of mine took the time to show me how she has fallen in love with Heat Transfer Vinyl and all the great things you can do with it. Of course, she made it look super easy, busting out 6-8 shirts in just a couple of hours, so I wanted to give it a try. My friend has a Cricut Machine along with the nifty heat press machine they make.
Since my oldest daughter is really into Sailor Moon and finding shirts with that character is not always easy, we decided to make her one as our first run.
First I had to order some Heat Transfer Vinyl, a shirt, and a t-shirt ruler guide (this comes in really handy to make sure you place the graphic in the right spot on shirts.) Since we were not completely set on what color we wanted the image to be, I opted for an assorted pack and was able to get one from Amazon for right around $20. This is the one I used, but there are tons out there that look promising.
We opted to get the shirt at Michael’s since they run about $3-4 for a basic colored t-shirt and I would not feel too bad if I messed it up at that price point.
Lastly, I was able to get the t-shirt ruler guide set from Amazon for about $7, which is great as I can use this on all future endeavors.
Once I had all my materials, I had my daughter search online for an image that I could use the “trace” function on within my Silhouette program. I won’t go into specifics on “tracing” or how I created the image as that is a normal cutting feature, but I will say I am really happy I have this tool. (It is the main reason I went Silhouette over Cricut.)
When the image was ready and sized appropriately for a youth t-shirt (keep in mind how large you want the image to be). Luckily my cutting ability is 12 inches wide, so I cannot go too crazy. I learned to measure how wide the center of the shirt is to get an idea on how large to make the image. One more thing to make sure you do before cutting is to reverse the image, especially if there is text. (Otherwise it will be backward.)
Next we got to the fun of cutting out the vinyl. Heat Transfer Vinyl (or HTV as most call it) typically comes with a clear sticky backing on it, so when you weed the vinyl you have the remaining clear sticky part to help keep the design in place. There should be directions with your HTV on how to place the vinyl on your cutting mat. Once the HTV is placed and your cutting mat loaded to your machine you can hit the cut or send button and let the magic begin.
After cutting is finish you next weed the design. This is when you remove the HTV that you don’t need. (So around your images or text.) HTV is not sticky so I it somewhat easy to weed, but it can get stuck on your weeding tool so having something stick you can attach the unneeded HTV to will help it go a lot faster.
To place the HTV on your shirt, you can use the T-shirt ruler to help you determine placement. Tip – make sure the shirt is level and flat. (No overlapping shoulders, etc.) This will help with placement.
The last part (which is key) is to add the “Heat”. Since I am not sure if I will do many HTV shirts I was not willing to spend the money to get a press, but it might be a future purchase if I keeping making shirts. Instead I used my Iron. I made sure to empty out all the water so there was no chance on steam coming through. (I have heard that will ruin it.)
The HTV I purchased came with a reusable sheet of teflon that you can place between the iron and the HTV. The times vary on how long you should leave the heat on the design. I went from 45 seconds to 1 minute for each section that I did. I made sure to keep the heat consistent and moved the iron about 4 times to heat it all.
You will want to let the shirt cool (roughly about 3-4 minutes minimum) before you attempt to pull off the clear part. If you start pulling up and the design comes too, then add more heat in 30-45 second increments. When you are pulling up the clear part it should come up rather easy.
One thing I learned after this first shirt was to help the front of the shirt seal better, I put back on the teflon sheet I used between the direct design and the iron and heated it for another 30-45 seconds. I found that this helps to smooth out the design and get rid of the rough edges.
My daughter was very happy with the finished shirt and I enjoyed making this. I have a feeling this might be the start of a new hobby.
Have you made HTV shirts? If you have leave a comment and share what you did. I love seeing what all you have done and created.
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