I am so glad I purchased a Silhouette Cameo. I still have the first generation and, while it can run a bit loud, I love it’s flexibility! My first experience with heat-transfer vinyl (HTV) wasn’t until February 2017 when I made custom t-shirt for hubs and myself for our anniversary trip to Disney. I have to admit, I was a little intimidated, at first, having only used printable iron-on transfer sheets up until then. There were some errors, and curse words, but I took my time and was super tickled with our shirts! HTV turns out so lovely!
If you haven’t worked with HTV, go for it! Here are some tips I’ve found work for me.
*Purchase quality HTV. My favorite vinyl supplier has been Expressions Vinyl and I have used both their smooth and glitter HTV on my projects. I also use their Oracal vinyl for my other projects.
*If you are cutting text, be sure to MIRROR before you cut, otherwise it will cut backwards.
*HTV is loaded onto your mat shiny side down. Heat transfer vinyl comes with a protective shiny sheet that is essential to the transfer process. Every machine cuts differently but Expressions Vinyl has a great setting reference for HTV (and other vinyls) here. Once you cut your design, you have to weed out the excess vinyl, leaving only your design on the shiny sheet.
*The design will now go shiny side up on your desired surface. Cover the shiny material with parchment paper – do not iron directly onto the plastic transfer sheet.
*I use an ordinary household iron to do my heat transfer; I use it on the second to highest setting (cotton on my iron). Use a hard surface, not a padded ironing board. I use a wooden TV tray.
*Don’t slide the iron back and forth over the surface, press firmly. I push down on the iron for anywhere from 20 – 40 seconds, lift the iron, move it to another spot and repeat until the entire design has been pressed. The I run the iron over the entire design again.
*Remove the parchment paper, let the area cool slightly and slowly start to lift a corner of the plastic sheet, check that the HTV is adhered to your surface. If it hasn’t fully adhered, I lay the plastic and the parchment back down and iron again.
*If you are using two different colors of vinyl, either layering or adding pieces, be sure to cover your entire design with parchment paper before ironing the second color or you will have more than just a ruined project.
