PATTERNED HTV

Do you ever wake up cold and say to yourself, is it summer yet? This would be me. So today I set out to create a patterned HTV T-Shirt that will give me a chuckle at least to carry me over until I thaw. Below I will show you just how to apply patterned HTV.

Now you may be thinking, wow she must live where it’s really cold! Uh nope. We get our cold temps here, don’t get me wrong but surely not as they get back east. Seriously I have no clue how they survive!

My other thought this AM is always about my fellow crafter friends. Yes, YOU! I thought hmmm wonder if anyone is wondering why there is a “Template” icon in Cricut Design Space. Honestly, I did not use it right away when I first started learning all the ins and outs.

You see when you are first learning about Cricut Design Space, most are just eager to get on with the ready-made projects or something you’ve had your eye on prior to getting a Cricut. I get that. There is much to learn. The awesome part is it’s really easy stuff to learn or just get familiar with 😊

I include a video down below if you prefer to learn visually. I know I sure do!

Allow me to get this started by showing you how a template can help with knowing just how big or small your image should be for say a “T-Shirt” Yup, that is our project for today. A simple T-Shirt.

I wanted to opt for a patterned HTV as I wanted a subtle look instead of a bold one. Oddly enough the t-shirt is easier to read in person. I think my LED lights messed with my t-shirt’s mind and my camera. Ha!

With that said you most definitely could use a few or one solid color of HTV for a completely different look.

Here we go! First, let me link my supplies used.

Supplies

Table of Contents

The Process

Designing

Start by clicking on new project

Click on Template in the upper left-hand corner

Utilize the search feature and choose “v-neck t-shirt”

Select type “womans” and the size you want

Click on the image icon on the left-hand side

Here you can select from thousands of images or the one I used by typing in “no winter lasts forever”

Select insert image in the lower right-hand corner

To make the image bigger, you can drag out the arrow on the bottom right lower corner of the image and then drag it into position.

Or if you know what width you want, you can look up top where it shows W and H and enter 10 for the W and hit enter on your keyboard. This will change the image to 10 inches wide which is very common for a large t-shirt image.

But go with what size you would like depending on the image and style you are going for.

Now, remember templates are just there for reference. To assist you in deciding what size you want your text or images to be on the final project. Cricut has a few helpful tips you can reference if needed.

Once you are happy with the size you can click on “make it” in the upper right-hand corner. Then you will click on “mirror” for each canvas you have HTV on. Then select your machine and materials and it will send it to your Cricut cutting machine.

mirror each mat with patterned htv on it

Cricut Design Space will remind you to mirror and to use the fine point blade in your Cricut machine.

Cutting

Make sure to put your patterned HTV shiny side down on your mat. I used the blue one since the patterned iron-on is very lightweight.

put patterned htv shiny side down on mat

shiny side is the patterned side — The patterned side is the shiny side

Put the mat in your Cricut machine and hit the double arrow button to load the mat. Then when the C light is flashing you can push it to cut your HTV for you. So easy!

Weeding

Now it’s time to remove any excess HTV by the process of weeding. It really helps to have a weeding tool for this process.

It’s also a good idea to check the backside of your images to ensure you’ve removed the insides of some of the letters.

Appling Patterned HTV

Now it’s time to set up your Easy Press and Easy Press Mat and lay your T-Shirt on the mat. I love to use my 3″ wide Cricut ruler to use it as a guide to where the top of my image should be for reference. It’s just perfect!

I used some heat-resistant tape to ensure my HTV would not move since I was using my largest Easy Press 2.

apply heat resistant tape to prevent patterned htv from moving when pressing

Be sure to check with Cricut’s Heat Press Guide to ensure proper temp and times.

Be sure to use a Heat Pressing Sheet over your image while pressing. It really helps keep everything professional looking and protects your image and Easy Press. The ones I get are very reasonable in price and last a long long long time LOL 😆 They are linked in the Supplies above.

cover patterned htv with a heat pressing sheet

For my project and Easy Press 2 I did as follows

Set Easy press 2 @ 340°
Pre-heat 5 seconds
Arrange HTV on the shirt
Press 30 sec, firm pressure
Flip shirt over and press for 15 seconds
Allow the shirt to cool to a cold peel
Once carrier sheets are removed I like to heat the front side for 15 more seconds using the heat pressing sheet again.