I am so excited to share with you how to make shirts with Cricut! There are so many unique projects that you can make with a Cricut Machine. Vinyl T-Shirts have to be one of my favorites! There are endless possibilities for the types of shirts you can create. The shirt that I made featured my favorite legendary jazz singers’ names, but you can put any list on your shirt that you would like. Creating custom shirts with your Cricut Machine has never been easier!
Materials
- Computer
- Cricut Machine (I used a Cricut Explore Air 2)
- Cricut Everyday Iron-On Vinyl, 12″ X 24″ (Black)
- Weeding Tool
- Brayer
- Gildan Short Sleeve Adult T-Shirt (Daisy)
- Cricut EasyPress 2
- Cricut Standard Grip Adhesive Cutting Mat, 12″ X 12″
- EasyPress Mat from Cricut
How To Make Shirts With a Cricut Machine
Creating the Design
Open the Cricut Design Space app on your computer. Click on “New Project.” Then, click on “Templates” and click on Fashion in the drop-down bar. Then click on “Basic T-Shirt” so that you can have a t-shirt template on your screen to test out your design.
Change the size and color of the template to match the t-shirt that you will be designing. I changed mines to a yellow Women’s shirt in Medium.
Now you are going to type the words that you would like your shirt to say. First, click on the word “text” and then type the words of your choice. Since my shirt was featuring my favorite legendary jazz singers, I typed “Fitzgerald. Holiday. Simone. Wilson. Vaughn.” You can type whatever you would like. You might consider typing your favorite TV Shows, movies, TV characters, Music Bands, etc.
Place the words where you would like them on your template t-shirt. Click on Fonts to change it to the font of your choice. I used the font “Franklin Gothic Heavy.”
Change the font to the size that you would like. However, you do not want to make all of the words collectively taller or wider than 11 inches so that they will all fit on your 12″ X 12″ Cricut Mat. If you have a 12″ X 24″ mat, then your font can be a little bit taller as long as you make sure that it fits on your shirt. Once you have the words the way you want them, click “Weld” so that the font doesn’t move around when you tell Cricut to do your project.
Cutting the Design
Click the “Make It” button in the top right corner of the screen. Set your material size to 12″ X 12″ if you have the size mat. Click “mirror” to mirror your image so that it will cut the image out backward.
Open the package of black Cricut Everyday Iron-on vinyl. Measure your vinyl and cut off a piece that is 12″ X 12″ long. Remove the plastic film covering from your Cricut mat. Spread out the piece of vinyl that you just cut over the Cricut Adhesive mat. Use the brayer tool to smooth it out. Otherwise, use your hand.
*Tip: Remove the label, roll it up, and place it inside the vinyl’s cardboard roll. This way, you won’t forget what type of vinyl it is next time you use it.
Turn on your Cricut Machine. Open the machine and load the mat. Set your Cricut dial to custom. Go to your computer screen, set your Materials to Everyday Iron-On vinyl, and change your pressure level to more pressure.
Go back to your Cricut Machine and hit the flashing button so that your machine will begin to cut. When it is done cutting, hit the Load/Unload button to release your mat.
Weeding the Design
Grab your vinyl and your weeding tool to peel away all of the unnecessary parts slowly. You have to be extremely careful with this step so that you don’t ruin your design.
Use your Weeding Tool to remove the center parts of the letters. What I have found to be most helpful is poking a tiny hole in the center of the middle part, sliding my weeding tool through just a little, and then pulling upwards. Make sure that you don’t miss any pieces because this can mess up your shirt.
Placing the Design on the Shirt
Now, you are done weeding, so check over your iron-on to make sure everything looks perfect.
Get on your computer and do a google search for the “Cricut Easy Press Quick Reference Guide.” Click on the link to the guide to get the exact time and temperature to use on your EasyPress. I clicked on “EasyPress 2”, changed my Heat Transfer Material to “Everyday Iron-On,” and selected “100% Cotton” for my Base Material.
The website tells us that we need to set the Easy Press for 315 degrees, preheat our shirt for 5 seconds, and hold the EasyPress on the Iron-On for 30 seconds.
When you are placing your design on your shirt, you want to be sure that it’s straight because once it is stuck, you can’t move it! You can use the tag of the shirt as a guide to finding the center of the shirt.
Place the EasyPress Mat under the shirt and heat the area where you will put the design for 5 seconds. Then you will place the iron-on on the shirt with the plastic side up. Make sure your Easy Press is set to 315 for 30 seconds. Then hit the button to start the 30-second timer. Because my design was so large, I had to repeat this step a few times in different spots to ensure the EasyPress covered the entire design.
Flip your shirt over without moving the design and heat the back of the shirt for 15 seconds.
Flip the shirt back over and wait until the plastic liner is cool to touch before slowly and carefully removing it.
Don't Be a Stranger...
That’s it, you guys! This project was easy to do, and I am very proud to wear it! I hope you enjoyed learning how to make shirts with Cricut machine.
Now, I want to hear from you. If you are going to do this project, what kind of list will you put on your shirt? Favorite Shows? Favorite Bands? Let me know in the comments below.
If you’d like to check out some of my most recent projects, check out my Rainbow Wreath or my Pom Pom Wall Hanging.
I hope that you will add a little more creativity to the world and keep coming back because…
You never know what I'll be Creating DIY'in painting Building making Imagining Writing next!
Very good post. I definitely appreciate this website. Keep writing!
Thank you very much. I appreciate the positivity!
Do you have a how-to for a one-piece bathing suit? What Type of vinyl would you buy?
Thanks for your help. I am new to the Cricut world
I have not done a how-to for a bathing suit, but that’s a great idea. I would get heat transfer vinyl for a project like that. Thanks for your comment!