Cordelia wanted some new Harry Potter shirts for Christmas. I designed her these two shirts. One is a Christmas shirt designed in the Christmas sweater style and the other is a shirt she can wear all year.
There are some special considerations to making a multi colored shirt. I didn’t want to use printable vinyl so I used 3 different colors.
What you will need
- 3 colors of HTV
- something to put it on
- Iron or Easy Press
- Parchment paper
- Download Files
Cutting
If you only knew how many times I have cut the wrong side of HTV. LOL. I use a pick to separate a very small part of the HTV in a space I am going to weed anyway. It is easy to tell which side is the HTV and which side is the “paper”. Put the “paper” side down. BTW if you ever cut the wrong side, just turn it over and re-cut. Most brands the backing is thick enough that you didn’t cut all the way through it anyway. It makes weeding a little more difficult because you now have two images, one reversed on the wrong side, but at least the vinyl isn’t wasted.
I created a custom setting for vinyl because I was having problems cutting through some vinyl. It is 200 pressure and cuts 2 times. These settings cut through any type of vinyl whoever makes it and whatever type. If you need to know how to change the settings on your cricut, see this post.
Weeding
Once the pattern is all cut, you need to weed it. I have a Cricut Bright Pad. You need some type of light source to put under the project. Before I got the Brightpad, I used a LED lamp , a bowl and a piece of glass. It wasn’t high tech but it worked. Any light pad will work. You can find others on Amazon for under $20 but they are smaller.
Also you will need a sharp pick. I have a set from Harbor Freight that cost 2 or 3 dollars. I have just found a pinpen from 651vinyl.com that works great. While you are there look at the weeding ring. It is great! I used to stick the weeded vinyl to my hand but my skin had a reaction to the sticky. The weeding ring solved that.
Here is another trick that works well. Rub a very little bit of baby powder on the back of the vinyl. You will be able to see the lines clearly. If you do this, make sure to wipe the baby powder off with a damp rag before applying the vinyl.
Ironing
I don’t have an Easypress. And I don’t see the need for one right now.
When Ironing several colors, whether they are layered or not, you will need some parchment paper to protect the colors already on the project while you put on the additional colors. To see the instructions for layering vinyl, check out this post.
With an iron set and the highest setting without steam, warm the area you are going to put the design on then place the design where you want it. Press fairly hard on the design in segments. Use a lot of pressure. You are trying to melt the material and force it between the fibers. After you have pressed each area, go over the whole design slowly a few times. If it doesn’t stick well try again.
After it cools and I’ve taken the paper off, I always repress the design just to make sure it seals. Use parchment paper between the iron and your design. After doing the first color, place the second color, the parchment paper and repeat the pressing process until all the colors are done
BTW if you are layering your vinyl, never put a layer on top of glitter vinyl. It just wont stick.
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