How to apply HTV to shirts using your Cricut

Some links may be affiliate links, which means we may get compensated at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase through a link. Please refer to our disclosures for further information. https://ivylillies.com/disclosures/

Learn how to make these easy Daddy and Daughter matching shirts using HTV and your Cricut.

Hello Magical Crafters. Today we are going to learn how to apply Iron-On Vinyl ( also known as Heat Transfer Vinyl) on T-shits using our Cricut. And since Father’s Day is right around the corner, why not make him some shirts. We will be crafting together these daddy and daughter matching shirts.

Kinda like mommy and me shirts but a dad version. I’ve realized after having my Cricut explore air 2 machine that I haven’t made my handsome a custom shirt. Shame on me, I know. So I figured Fathers Day would be the perfect time to finally make him a shirt. And I don’t know about yall but mine rips farts like crazy. So does my girls.

So instead of a classic fathers shirt, its going to be a farting funny shirt and I’ll be making two shirts for both of my girls to match with him.

Supplies needed to make these Custom T-shirts are…

• Shirts- 1 adult, 1 toddler, and 1 infant ( of course grab the ones you need)
• Iron-On vinyl- in the color you want ( also referred to as Heat Transfer Vinyl)
• computer or phone
• Cricut machine of your choosing ( I have the Explore Air 2)
• cutting mat
• Iron or Cricut heat press
• Heat protector sheet or parchment paper
• Tweezers and Pick tools

Access some of our SVG files in our Magical Crafting Library, to help you craft the day away.

Let’s start crafting!

It’s best to wash and dry your shirts before we add the htv. So while they are getting clean, head over to either your choice of software to create your design. If you don’t already know, I do most of my designing in Inkspace. It’s a free design software to use on your computer.

Add in whatever you want your shirt to say. My shirt for the handsome will say “Damn Frogs” because everytime he farts he says this phrase. For my toddler’s shirt, it will say ” Daddy Farted, Sister farts, and I giggle” Had to be something cute, right? And last but not least, the baby’s shirt saying ” Caution, Highly combustible, keep away from open flames”.

If you’d like to follow along in this tutorial, click here and it’ll give you the link to the file in Cricut Design Space.

Design Space

Now that we have our design, head over to Design Space so we can upload it. Follow the prompts from Cricut. I always use the detailed complex setting to upload my design. If you are uploading your design, make sure it is perfect and all the white background is gone from your preview image. Then make it a cut file and add a title and a tag to make it easier to find it.

After we uploaded our design, resize it before you press make it.

Grab your mat ( I currently only use the green mats but blue will work too). Line up the vinyl to the top lines of your mat. Press the arrow button to upload the mat to the machine. Double check the machines setting and make sure it is set to “iron on”.

Remember to mirror the image for all of the shirts. Lay the htv vinyl down with pretty side facing down on the mat. If its a pattern, you will not be able to see it during cutting time.

Now we are ready to press that “Make it” button.

Weeding Time

Once you have completed all your cuts, its time to weed. As you can see in this picture, I cut out the extra vinyl that is not part of the design. Save these for future projects. Need some poke a dots for something, now you have scrape pieces to choose from.

Also if you need something to catch all the tiny peices of vinyl, cut a piece of the backing off and use that to stick them to it. Use your tweezers and pick tool to help weed away all of the background pieces. Your words should also be backwards. If they are not, then that means you forgot to mirror your image.

After you have weeded everything away that you don’t need, you should have something like this below.

Pressing our design into our shirts

My preference for a heat protector between my heat press and vinyl is to use parchment paper. I always have some on hand and you can reuse the same sheet more then once. Before you lay down the design, turn on either your heat press or iron.

Let it warm up and then lightly run it over the shirt to help smooth away any wrinkles. Next, we place our vinyl where we want it on the shirt. Lay the parchment paper on top and then apply your heat press to it. Make sure to apply pressure during the whole set time.

For this project, I set the temperature to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and the timer is set to 22 seconds.

Before you peel away the transfer tape, ( the clear top the vinyl was stuck to) make sure which option is best. Some heat transfer vinyl is fine to peel away while it is still warm. Other vinyls, you need to wait till they are cooled down to peel away, also referred to as a cold peel.

After you peel away the transfer tape, the vinyl should look like it has the shirt pattern to it. If you do not see any indents or patterns of the shirt in the vinyl, this means you did not apply enough pressure during the heat process. You can still redo this. Add the parchment paper back over and redo the heat setting, making sure you are applying pressure.

Final outcome of Daddy and Daughter matching shirts.

After you finished all of the shirts, you should now have a few Damn good looking father day, daddy and daughter shirts to give to your man. Not only will he love you, but he’ll love that he finally has matching shirts to wear with his kids. Win win for everyone.

Click on the button below to gain access to our Magical Crafting Library where you can get FREE SVG files all in one place.

Did you make this easy Daddy and Daughter matching shirts project? We’d love to see it. Follow us on Instagram and share your photos with us by tagging #Ivylillies. Or pin it for a later crafting date.

Need more crafting projects? Here are some to keep you busy.

• Star Wars Fan? Come check out the variety of Star Wars craft we have for you to make.
• Learn how to use Permanent Vinyl with this simple mailbox makeover tutorial.
• Want some cute Sunflower cupcake toppers? Learn how to make your own right now.

Did you know we have a Etsy Shop?

It’s true, we do. It’s called Ivy Lillies Crafting Co and it can be found in the menu option as “Etsy Shop”.

We have Mini Pinata SVG files available and other fun items as well.