I'm absolutely thrilled to be a part of Vinyl Palooza with 19 other bloggers this week!! There's also an amazing giveaway involved, so be sure to read all about it at the end of the post. Heat transfer vinyl from Expressions Vinyl is my favorite to work with, and I've created some matching girl and doll t-shirts with it to share with you today!!
I know you can purchase white doll t-shirts or sew them from a pattern, but did you know that a preemie onesie fits an 18 inch doll?! It's a little long, but the fit is *perfect*!! By cutting the onesie, you can easily turn it into a t-shirt in no time at all. Save even more money by buying preemie onesies at the thrift store!!
I've also found that newborn onesies also fit the dolls, but they are quite a bit roomier. Use whatever you like best!
To create a shirt from the onesie, measure about one inch above the top of the leg binding and mark with a water soluble marker or lightly with a pencil. Cut straight across.
Turn the "shirt" inside out and fold the cut edge up about 1/2 inch and iron. Fold up another 1/2 inch, iron, and pin in place.
Sew along the top edge all the way around the shirt. Turn the shirt right side out, and your shirt is ready for wearing!!
Ta-da!! The shirt fits great is the perfect length. You can do this with any preemie or newborn onesies and now you have a white t-shirt ready to be customized with some heat transfer vinyl.
Expressions Vinyl has a lot of different types, textures, and colors of heat transfer vinyl. I honestly prefer to use their HTV (heat transfer vinyl) over other brands because it is a higher quality, extremely user friendly, and affordable. For this project, I decided to use the Fuchsia Holographic Heat Transfer Vinyl. It is SO cool and I love that it's different than any other HTV I've ever used before.
A little bit about HTV if you've never used it:
The heat transfer vinyl is made up of two parts: the heat transfer vinyl, which will be ironed on to your project, and the liner. The liner is a carrier sheet (think transfer paper) that holds the design in place and protects your iron during application.
Expressions Vinyl has a lot of different types, textures, and colors of heat transfer vinyl. I honestly prefer to use their HTV (heat transfer vinyl) over other brands because it is a higher quality, extremely user friendly, and affordable. For this project, I decided to use the Fuchsia Holographic Heat Transfer Vinyl. It is SO cool and I love that it's different than any other HTV I've ever used before.
A little bit about HTV if you've never used it:
The heat transfer vinyl is made up of two parts: the heat transfer vinyl, which will be ironed on to your project, and the liner. The liner is a carrier sheet (think transfer paper) that holds the design in place and protects your iron during application.
The most important thing to remember with HTV is to make sure you mirror your image! Otherwise it will be backwards when you iron it on!
I cut out "#cute" on my Cricut Explore (though you can cut the vinyl on any vinyl cutting machine). To cut the vinyl, place the sheet liner side down on the cutting mat. Every cutting machine is different, so make sure to check your cut guides to cut the HTV. Next, weed out any parts of the image that you aren't going to use.
The carrier sheet is clear and tacky, so I centered my HTV liner side UP on the shirts and pressed it down so it doesn't shift when it's time to iron. Turn the iron on the highest setting (around 320º) with no steam. Place a scrap piece of fabric over the HTV and warm it up with the iron. Next, place the iron on the design and apply pressure for 10-20 seconds. Then, I like to turn the shirt over or turn it inside out and press the iron on it again for 10-15 seconds. Let the shirt cool, then peel off the liner. If any parts of the HTV are peeling up, cover them with the scrap fabric and press the iron over it again for 10-15 seconds.
Now the shirts are ready to wear! They vinyl will stay in place through multiple washes. For best results, turn the shirts inside out and machine wash COLD with mild detergent. Dry at a normal dryer setting on household machines. Do NOT bleach or dry clean.
Now, for the giveaway!! One lucky winner is going to get $100 to spend at Expressions Vinyl and also receive The Ultimate Silhouette Guide ebook from Silhouette School that includes nearly 150 pages of instructions for using the Silhouette and more than 200 pictures and screen grabs to take you step by step through any project! The giveaway ends on May 3rd. Good luck!!
How cute is that! Makes for a happy little girl. :-)
ReplyDeleteWow - this would have been great when my little one was little - I looked and tried different T-shirt transfers - I also could have used it when I was working with groups programs!
ReplyDeleteSo #cute! I so need a vinyl cutting machine so I can make adorable shirts like this for my girls! I'm putting it on my Crafty To-Do List for this summer!
ReplyDelete