Life is a Blessing!: DIY Iron-on Vinyl Shirts using the Cricut Expression

My mom and I were out shopping and we saw some cute T-shirts but didn’t want to spend $20.00 on them so we decided to make our own. The supplies we used to make these shirts were: Cricut Expression, t-shirts and iron-on vinyl.

First, go to http://us.cricut.com/home/ to start creating your own project. Once, you get there your screen will look like this. Click on the green button or the white link under the sign in log that says “Cricut Design Space” to get started.

Then, click on the “Create New Project” board.

A new template will look like this and you will click on the “Add Text” button located on the left side of the page.

Now, you are ready to type in your words. I chose a font called Kates ABCs-Bal for “WRECK ‘EM” and a font called Pharmacy for “Y’ALL”. When your words are the font you want, your next step is to size your words. I wanted my words to go across the front of a shirt so my words were pretty big. “WRECK ‘EM” was Width: 9.71 in. and Height: 2.08 in. and “Y’ALL” was Width: 6.01 in. and Height: 2.01 in.

I also made a shirt for my sister who graduated from A&M! Her shirt said “GIG ‘EM Y’ALL”. It was made the same way as the shirt above but I used the font ENGRAVERS MT for “GIG ‘EM” and Pharmacy for “Y’ALL”. “GIG ‘EM” had a Width of: 7.55 in. and Height of: 2.29 in. and “Y’ALL” had a Width of: 6.02 in. and Height of: 2.01 in. Screen Shot 2014-12-27 at 6.04.40 PM

Now, you are ready to hit the green button at the top to cut out your project. Make sure to check the "Mirror Image" at the bottom of the page before you start cutting! I always do a trial run on regular printer paper before cutting the iron-on vinyl (just to make sure it’s the size I want). Also, make sure you place your iron-on vinyl, shiny side DOWN on the cutting mat and move the knob on the Cricut to “Iron on” before cutting.

Screen Shot 2014-12-27 at 6.19.40 PM

Iron-on vinyl shiny side down.

Here are the words after I removed all the unwanted material around them.

I had my mom try on the shirts so I could decide where the words should go before I ironed them on. Once the shirt was on her, we pushed the words in place so they would stick. Then, we very carefully took the shirt off her without moving the words (she held them in place while I tried to take the shirt off LOL). It was quite a scene! After that, I ironed on the words (following the instructions that came with the vinyl).

Here are the finished shirts: