Requirements for this tutorial:
- Computer or Tablet
- Printer
- Design or Photo
- Heat Transfer Paper
- Iron
- Cutting Machine
- Heat Press
- Cotton Tote or T-Shirt
Hello and welcome to our mini t-shirt/tote creation tutorial. Above are the recommended supplies to follow along. Be sure to do your research before purchasing any product in this tutorial. Just because another maker uses something, doesn’t mean it best suits your creation process.
To begin creating our vinyl product we start with an image. Finding the right image for your product can be tricky. It’s always a good idea to choose something that inspires you if you’re out of ideas. It could be a photo you took or a doodle you finalized on a computer. Choose something that calls out too you.
Depending on the project, at printmevinyl we either create a drawing in Procreate using an iPad Pro (vintage model) or select a photo from our laptop that we took with a digital camera. After we've selected an image we export/save our files in the highest quality format. Usually it's an uncompressed PNG. PNG also allows us to use transparent backgrounds. When printing we use an HP Office Jet Pro 6978 with its highest quality print output.
Depending on our image, if it isn’t a full scale photo at 8x11 and requires cutting to reshape, we import the image into Cricuts design space app. For a lot of our projects we do our cutting with a Cricut Maker 4. With it we can choose the “print and cut” option to continue our process. For those not sure what a Cricut is, it’s a multi-purpose cutting, drawing, engraving, embossing tool. It can also operate on different types of materials. From copy paper, cardstock(medium and heavy) to vinyl. We’ll be cutting vinyl so be sure to select the HTV option for your project.
We use heat transfer vinyl from a company called TransOurDreams. You can find them on Amazon. They have simple heat pressing instructions and offer different sheets for both light or dark fabric. Be sure to select the appropriate one for your garment or tote.
Once our image has been printed and or cut from our Cricut we begin to prepare our fabric.
You can use a hand held iron to help remove wrinkles before position the item on a heat press. This is so we have a smooth flat surface for our vinyl to adhere to.
Some makers use a hand held iron to press vinyl into their fabric but a heat press can automate the process. We use an HVTRONT 2 heat press. If you are thinking about purchasing a heat press choose one with a large enough bed for your projects. It may require a little foresight for the type of projects you’ll be creating but it saves having to press an item multiple times for your vinyl to stick if only half of it fits on the bottom plate.
Note, different heat presses will have different settings for various fabrics so be sure to do some research before pressing your vinyl. Also, use parchment or teflon between the top plate and your item so things don't get messy. You could be left with a transfer that doesnt totally stick or one that melts.
Take care to evenly position your vinyl on your item. Once the plate goes down and the clock starts, its almost impossible to reposition your image.
And that’s it. We hope your project is a success and if you’re having difficulties feel free to contact us at PrintMeVinyl
We do offer this service to help you speed things along for $20 dollars on a t-shirts or tote but if you’re in a makers mood best of luck too you.
Ideas are important, and they should also be shared. Show yours on a T-shirt or Tote.
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