Hi everyone! So today I’m going to talk about HTV. What is HTV? You may ask. It stands for Heat Transfer Vinyl or simply iron-on vinyl. When you have a Cricut the sky is literally the limit for all the different things that you can create. I have to admit that when I made my first couple of shirts (Pictured below) I was terrified.
I had no idea what I was doing and everyone was using their fancy easy press. The trick that I have learned is patience. To use a traditional iron is time-consuming, however, it works just fine. You need patience also with yourself. When you first start designing and apply your t-shirts there are going to be mistakes you will make. You can’t let those mistakes discourage you from your goal. You have to learn from them and try again. That is how we learn everything from walking to our chosen trade. This is no different and you will get there if you keep going.
If you are new to the Cricut world and are using your home iron it is important to know that for most types of vinyl (all the ones that I know of currently) require you to set your home iron to the highest setting. You also need to set it to the DRY setting. You NEVER use the steam setting when doing an iron-on transfer.
Also, make sure that you wash your shirts and dry them without fabric softener. You want to get the coating off the shirt that comes from the manufacturer. If you use fabric softener it is again putting a coating on the clothing that will give you trouble.
When using the older style iron on transfers the idea was to keep the iron moving. That is not the case with HTV. Instead, you want to press the iron down for 15 seconds before lifting it up and moving to a different area. This will prevent wrinkles in the fabric and vinyl.
If you are doing multiple layers of vinyl you must be careful. When you weed the vinyl it comes on clear transfer tape. Please, please, please learn from my mistake and make sure the clear plastic from a different section is under the vinyl. I cannot tell you how many times this happened to me because I was in a hurry.
Most importantly have fun with it! We craft to calm our anxieties or to relax. We don’t want to stress out so much that it no longer is fun. We want to enjoy the destination, or finished project, for sure but we also want to enjoy the journey as well. Before I close out for the day I want to share with you another shirt that I made at the beginning that I am proud of. It gave me so many problems, such as putting the vinyl on the clear transfer tape, but in the end, it was worth it and is one of my favorite shirts. Until next time, stay crafting my friends!
Cats MeWOW Designs 