Make Your Own T-Shirt with a Cricut and Easy Press
Hello ProcrasCreators!! Now that you have joined the Cricut family (Welcome) let’s put that machine to use. One of the first ways you can use it is by making your own T-shirt. You can make them for your kids, friends, your business or yourself. It is a quick and simple project, so let’s get started.
Using Design Space
You can use the images in Design Space or you can upload an image into Design Space. That is what we are going to focus on today. If you would like to use an image in Design Space you can watch the Youtube Video at the end of this post to see how.
Upload a Photo to Design Space
In Design Space select Upload in the lower left-hand corner, then select upload image.
On the next screen, you want to select Browse. Take note of the acceptable file extensions underneath the browse button.
Find your file and select open.
Name your file, add tags and hit save.
Your file has now been uploaded to Design Space (yay!). You can upload it and others into your current project. When you select an uploaded file Design Space puts a green box around it and list it at the bottom of the page. Once you have selected all of the files that you want, hit Insert Image.
Preparing Your Image
Sizing
There are several ways to size your image.
1. Unlock this button and you are able to shrink it or make it wider.
2. These arrows allow you to resize while maintaining the ideal proportions of the image.
3. Allows you to rotate the image.
You can also resize by using the toolbar option at the top of the screen, especially if you know the exact dimensions.
Color
You can change the color of the image to give yourself an opportunity to see what it could look like with different colors and you can separate what you want to cut by color and it will place it on separate mats.
You can change the color by selecting the colored circle next to the image on the right-hand side and then select your desired color. Once you have the image the way you want select Make It.
Mat Preparation
Once you hit Make IT button, it will take you to the mat page. You can move your image around on the mat. You can also move an image to a different mat or hide the image by selecting the image you want and clicking the three dots on the upper left-hand side.
If you are using an iron on design with words, you will need to mirror the image. I would suggest mirroring everything at one time so that you do not forget to do so and waste HTV vinyl.
Once you have made your mat adjustments, hit continue at the bottom of the page.
Connect, Material & Cut
The software will automatically look for your Cricut (make sure you cut it on). Once it has made a connection you need to select your material type from the popular menu or you can select Browse All Materials.
After hitting Browse All Materials, you can either scroll down to your desired selection or hit the arrow next to All Categories and select the general material that you want.
It will then take you down to everything that falls under that overarching category. Select your material and hit done.
Cricut Machine
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The Cricut arrow button will then start flashing.
Determine how much vinyl you need and apply it to the mat. Note: Keep the plastic covering that comes with the mat so that you can reuse it and preserve your mat.
Place the mat under the guides and hold it there. While holding it there, hit the flashing arrow button. Once it makes it initial adjustments the Cricut button will flash. Select the Cricut button and the machine will cut the image. When it finishes the arrows will flash again. Hit the arrow button to release the mat.
When removing your vinyl from the mat, pull the mat away from the vinyl and not the other way around.
Almost there. The next thing to do is to weed your vinyl. You are going to remove everything that you do not want to adhere to the shirt.
You can use the Cricut BrightPad to assist in the weeding process. It is more helpful with glitter vinyl than it is with regular vinyl.
While weeding, it is nice to have a bowl, bucket, or empty tissue box to have a place for the scraps.
Cricut Easy Press
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The Cricut Easy Press comes with a quick guide for heat settings. You can also visit the Cricut website to figure out the settings. I set the temperature at 305 degrees for 20 seconds.
While the Cricut Press was warming, I ran the press over the shirt to prepare the shirt for the vinyl.
Then I placed the vinyl on the shirt ensuring that it was centered and level. Once I had everything in place, I set the Cricut Easy Press on the design and started the timer.
Once you pick up the Cricut Easy Press, you can shake out the shirt to disperse the heat.
Slowly pull the transfer tape away from your design.
You did it!!!!! I’m so proud of you. Please leave comments and questions below. If you are a visual learner and need more help, watch the video below.
See you all the next time!!!
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