Step 1 – Creating the Design:
1- Open up Cricut Design Space
2- From the Home page click the New Project button in the top right. This will open up your canvas screen.
Now that we have a blank canvas to work with, the first thing we want to do is add a T-Shirt template to the canvas. This helps us to get the right sizing and placements for our design. Cricut gives us access to lots of different templates which we can easily add to the canvas.
3- Click on Templates in the Design Panel.
4- In the new window, type in ‘T-Shirt’ in the search bar in the top right and press Enter.
5- Locate the template that best matches the t-shirt you are using and click to add it to your canvas. In this case we’re going to use ‘Classic t-shirts’.
6- Adjust the Type and the Size of the template by using the drop-down menu at the top left of the screen. In this case we’re using a Women’s short-sleeved t-shirt in size small as that is the template that most accurately matches the measurements of our garment.
Once you have your template in place, it’s time to add your SVG design file.
7- Click the Upload icon in the Design Panel.
8- In the new window click on the Upload Image button.
9- Click Browse.
10- Go to your Downloads folder and find the SVG file that you downloaded at the start of the tutorial. Click Open.
11- In the next window give the image a name (eg Eat Sleep Craft Repeat) and then click Upload in the bottom right.
The image is now uploaded to your Design Space profile. The next step is to insert it onto your canvas.
12- Select your image and then click Add To Canvas.
13- Your image will be added to the top left of the canvas. Click on it and drag it to the center of your T-Shirt design.
With the image selected, it will tell you the dimensions. You may need to resize it. A width of 8 – 9 inches will work well for most people.
14- To resize the design, select it on your canvas, then click and drag one of the four corner squares to increase the size.
Now that our design is the right size, we need to ‘Attach’ all the different layers of the design together.
If we don’t Attached the layers together, then Design Space doesn’t know that we want to cut everything out in the same position as on the canvas, so it will reposition everything. You can see what that looks like if we don’t use Attach.
You can see the individual layers have been repositioned. So the next step is to Attach the layers so they all keep in place..
15- Click on ‘Attach’ in the bottom of the right-hand side of the screen in your ‘Layers’ panel, to make sure all of your layers are cut together as one design.
16- Finally, let’s save this project so that we can access it easily in the future. Click Save in the Header Bar.
17- Enter a memorable name like ‘Eat Sleep Craft Repeat T-Shirt’. Click Save
Great work! You’re all done for this stage!
Step 2 – Cut your design
Now that our design is resized and attached, we’re ready to start cutting!
1- Click on the ‘Make’ button in the top right-hand side of your canvas screen, this will take you to the Project Preview screen.
This screen allows you to move your design around on the mat. When working with Iron-On HTV it’s important to remember to mirror your design as HTV is cut on the reverse of the material.
2- Click the ‘Mirror’ button and then click ‘Continue’ on the bottom right of the screen.
This next screen is where we select our material. The 10 most popular material options are shown to us by default. If you want to browse the full library of material options, you can click on the ‘Browse All Materials’ text), we will be using the Everyday Iron-On setting.
3- Select Everyday Iron-On
4- Once we’ve selected our material option, we will then be shown what tools we need to load into our machine, (we’re using the standard fine point blade that comes with all Cricut machines, so there is no need to worry about changing anything) and will also be prompted to load our mat into the machine.
5- Iron-On HTV needs to be applied to your cutting mat with the shiny plastic side down and the matte side facing up.
- Make sure the standard fine point blade is loaded into your Cricut
- Apply your HTV shiny side down on the mat
6- Press the flashing Go button on your Cricut to start cutting!
Step 3 – Weeding your design
1- When your design has finished cutting, unload the mat from the Cricut machine.
2- Leave your HTV attached to the mat and take it to a flat work surface where you can begin weeding.
3- Take your weeding tool and release one corner of the vinyl so that you can pull away the excess from the carrier sheet (shiny plastic layer). Use your weeding tool to hook the vinyl up and towards you so that you’ve got enough to grasp with your fingers and then carefully peel it away to leave your cut out design on the carrier sheet
4- Now take your weeding tool and pick out the vinyl from the center of your letters.
5- You should be left with the finalized design, still back to front.
Step 4 – Putting your design on to your T-shirt
Now we apply the design to your T-shirt!
1- Turn on your heat press and allow it to heat up.
2- Put your t-shirt on top of a teflon-pressing pillow and give it a quick press to remove any wrinkles and to pre-heat the area you’re going to apply the Iron-on design to.
3- Position your design where you want it on your T-shirt (it should now read correctly, not back to front)
4- Carefully place a Teflon sheet over the top.
5- Once your heat press has reached the correct temperature, place it on the teflon sheet, making sure it is sitting centrally over your design. Press down for the required amount of time.
Heat and time settings vary for different brands of Iron-On HTV; make sure to check the requirements for the type you are using to avoid any pressing issues.
If you are using a Cricut Press and Cricut HTV you can check the correct settings here
6- Remove your heat press and remove the Teflon sheet.
7- Carefully lift the corner of the Iron-On plastic carrier sheet and peel it away from the T-shirt.
8- To make sure that your design has fully adhered to the T-shirt, lay the brown Teflon sheet down again and give the design another quick press for around 5 seconds.
9- Congratulations – You’ve just made your first Iron-On HTV T-shirt!
