I made this little cute rabbit t-shirt to demonstrate how to layer heat transfer vinyl. I love the rabbit design and it was a lot easier to make than you would imagine.
To make this cute t-shirt you will need the following supplies:
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you.
Selecting the Design
To demonstrate layering vinyl I choose the rabbit design from design Bundles.
Once you have the design you are ready to head over to design space. Click on new project and that will take you to a new blank canvas.
Download the design
Download the design file of your rabbit design onto your computer.
Once the design is downloaded head back over to design space and click on the upload cloud.
This is situated on the left hand side of the canvas. This will take you to the upload screen. You now have the option to drag and drop the file or browse. If you click browse it will bring up the list of your downloads. Choose the download you wish to use. Click on the file and then click on the open button in the bottom right corner.
Uploading the Design
Once you have clicked the open button it will open your design on the prepare to upload screen. If you are happy with the design, you have the option to name the imagine. Click on the upload button in the bottom right corner. You will return to the upload screen where your design will be displayed under recent uploads.
Click on the uploaded design, this will put a green box around it. Then click on the green add to canvas button in the bottom right hand corner.
You are now back on the canvas and you will see that your design has been loaded.
Sizing the design
At this point measure the area on your t-shirt to make sure the design is going to fit. Also bear in mind the size of the cutting mat you have.
For my t-shirt I made my design 11 inches high. Cricut altered the width to be 6.193 inches wide. To change the size of the design this can be done 2 ways. The first way is to use the sizing handle in the bottom right corner of your design. Adjust the size of the design by clicking on it and moving it till the right size is reached.
The other way is to click on the width and height box at the top of the canvas and alter the size accordingly. The padlock in the middle means that they will both change in proportion. Unless you click on the padlock and this will allow you to change the height and width to the exact size you require.
Ungrouping the layers
Once I had the size that I wanted I then clicked on the ungroup button in the top right corner to ungroup all the layers.
This then allowed me to separate all the layers so they would all be cut separately. Separate the layers of the bow and the glasses.
We now need to attach the layers. This is so they are cut out as they are displayed on the canvas. If we do not attach them, cricut will try to cut them out in the best way to save vinyl.
To attach all the rabbit together. Select all the rabbit then click on attach in the bottom right of the canvas. Repeat this process for the brown parts of the bow and glasses. Also repeat for the black parts of the bow and glasses.
Changing the colour of the vinyl
To make it easier to understand the layers you can change the colour of the vinyl on your canvas.This will match it to the vinyl you will be using. Click on the layer you wish to change the colour of and head up to the colour box at the top of the canvas. Drop down the colour chart and select the colour you wish to use.
You can use several different colours.
Once your design is the correct size and attached you are now ready to cut the vinyl.
Preparing the Vinyl
To prepare the vinyl onto the mat you should place the heat transfer vinyl shiny side down. Press firmly onto the mat, load the mat into your Cricut by using the arrow button.
Now the mat is ready head back over to design space. Click on the make it button in the top right hand corner. This will take you to the next screen.
Select how you are cutting the materials. I am cutting my vinyl on the mat. Select the option that is best suited to you. Click on the option and it will place a green box around it, then click on continue.
It will show you the prepared mat and your design on the mat. This is how the maker will cut the design.
As you are using Heat Transfer Vinyl you will need to click on the mirror button. This will reverse your design. Next head over to the continue button in the bottom right corner.
Cutting the materials
You will then be asked to select the material you wish to cut. If you need to search for your materials then click on browse all materials. This will show you all the materials that the cricut can cut. I personally use premium vinyl as it gives consistent results.
Once you have selected your materials you have the option to alter the pressure. It is always set to default but I always like to select ‘more’ so I get the best cut possible. To change the pressure just click on the box and it will drop down the options.
Now all that the material and pressure are selected, the green cricut button on the maker will be flashing. Press the button and the cut will start.
Once the cut has finished, press the flashing arrow button and release the mat.
Removing the vinyl
To remove the vinyl, flip the mat over and peel the mat away from the back of the vinyl. This will prevent the vinyl from curling up.
Trim around the edges of your design to save excess vinyl for another project and to save time weeding. Take your weeding tool and begin to weed out all the unneeded vinyl. All you are going to be left with is your design.
As my design used 3 different colours of vinyl I repeated the same process for all 3 colours.
Preparing the t-shirt
For the final stage we now need to heat press the design onto the front of the t-shirt. I used my cricut easy press for this. I heated the heat press up to a temperature of 160 degrees celsius. Once the heat press is at temperature prepare the t-shirt by pressing it for 10 seconds to remove any moisture.
To find the centre of the t-shirt fold the t-shirt in half and press again.
Preparing the design
To find the centre of my rabbit design I folded it in half and pinched the middle.
Next, I lined up my design on the t-shirt making sure it was centred. To find the right placement I lined the design roughly 3 fingers width down from the neck line.
Pressing the design
Once I was happy with the placement of the rabbit. I applied the heat press and applied pressure onto the t-shirt for 5 seconds. At this point you are only doing a tack down press. When HTV is heated it does shrink slightly. So only pressing for a few seconds each time should prevent this happening.
Once all the design has been pressed carefully start to remove the protective sheet from the vinyl. I like to do this slowly starting in the corner. If the vinyl is lifting up then just pop the protective sheet back down and press the design again. Be sure to save the protective sheet as you will need this to cover and protect the design. Place the sheet over the design each time you press a new layer.
Repeat this process for all the layers of the design. To save time you can press the vinyl for the glasses and the bow together. Just be sure they do not overlap.
Once all the layers have been pressed on the front. Flip the t-shirt over and press the back of the t-shirt for 15 seconds.
I really hope you found this blog on how to layer heat transfer vinyl helpful. I really hope you will give it a go and make cute t-shirts for yourself.
Please take a look at the video below to watch how I made this cute t-shirt
If you like this blog please take a look at my other blogs: