How to Decorate T-Shirts With Cricut®

Unload your mat once your Cricut machine has finished cutting your vinyl design. Next, it’s time to grab your weeding tools. We’re not talking about removing unwanted plants from your garden here! Weeding in this context means removing all of the extra pieces of vinyl you don’t want to transfer onto your t-shirt. For example, that means those bits in the middle of letters like “p” or “o”. 

You can use a hook-shaped weeding tool to start pulling up the extra vinyl. Then, you can remove the vinyl bits up off the carrier sheet with your fingers. After you’ve removed the larger vinyl pieces, you can use tweezers to weed out the smallest bits. The more intricate the design, the longer it may take you to weed the extra pieces.

It’s almost time to adhere your vinyl design to your shirt! Place your Cricut EasyPress mat or a clean towel on a flat, heat-resistant surface. (Stay away from ironing boards since they’re not stable.) Heat your iron, heat press or Cricut EasyPress tool to the temperature and pressing time to use according to the type of vinyl and shirt fabrication you’re using. For an iron, use the cotton/linen setting, which will give you the highest temperatures.

Now, center the vinyl design on your t-shirt shiny side up, about 2 inches below your shirt collar. Heat the design using your iron or your heat press with gentle pressure for the correct amount of time, usually around 30 seconds. Most likely, your vinyl application will require you to turn your shirt over and apply pressure on the back, for half the time you pressed the front.

Then, pull off the carrier sheet from your design, following your vinyl instructions. Some vinyl transfers require a hot or warm peel, which means that you should remove the plastic carrier sheet while it’s still warm. If your vinyl calls for a cool peel, you’ll leave the plastic liner on until the design and t-shirt cool completely.

Now that you’ve created your iron-on shirt with your Cricut, make sure you care for them properly so you can wear them for years to come. If you’ve used Cricut’s Everyday Iron-On vinyl, the manufacturer says the vinyl design should last up to 50 washes. 

We recommend waiting 24 hours after applying the iron-on vinyl before washing your shirt. Turn the shirt inside-out before you wash it on a lower heat setting. Air-dry the shirt if you can, but if you use the dryer, choose a tumble-dry low setting. Of course, never use bleach with your iron-on vinyl shirt.

If you still have questions, we have answers! These are eight questions we hear most often about using a Cricut to create an iron-on t-shirt design.

A Cricut electronic cutting machine cuts the design you send to it from your laptop, tablet or phone. Yes, your Cricut looks like a printer, but it outputs designs it cuts out (rather than printing).

Iron-on vinyl has a heat-activated adhesive that sticks to fabric when you press it with a heat source, like an iron or heat press. You’ve probably also seen iron-on vinyl called heat-transfer vinyl (or HTV); that makes sense since they’re the same thing just called by slightly different names. You can buy iron-on vinyl in lots of different colors, patterns and finishes, in sheets, rolls and packs.

Decorators recommend using a high-quality shirt that has a smooth surface to get the best results. A smooth cotton surface is a great choice, but you can choose other fabrics as well that can stand up to the high heat of your iron or heat press.

Good question! Your vinyl design should be at least 10 inches smaller than your shirt’s width, when you measure it from armpit to armpit. If your armpit measurements is 20 inches, then your design should be 10 inches wide or less.

Short answer: Yes. You must follow the heating guidelines that come with your vinyl. Otherwise, your design won’t adhere correctly, and most likely will start peeling off.

There could be a few reasons why this is happening. First, we have to ask, did you pre-wash the shirt? If you skipped this step, this may be why your vinyl isn’t adhering to the fabric, especially if you didn’t remove anything left on the shirt surface. The second area to look at is if you heated your iron or heat press to the correct temperature the vinyl needs to bond with your fabric. Did you apply heat to both the front and back of your shirt, following your vinyl product’s guidelines? Finally, it may be worth a try to reapply the vinyl. Cover your design with a Teflon sheet (since you’ve already removed the paper backing) and press the front and back of your t-shirt for an additional 10 to 15 seconds on each side.

If you peeled the plastic sheet off your vinyl too soon or too late, you might be experiencing this. Check your vinyl instructions to see if they call for a warm, hot or cool peel. For example, a hot peel means you’d pull the paper backing off as soon as you remove your heat source. A cool peel means not removing the backing until the vinyl and t-shirt have cooled. 

If you find that the edges of your vinyl design start to lift after laundering, that means the vinyl didn’t adhere to the shirt properly. We recommend following the steps again to apply the vinyl, but use a Teflon sheet to replace the vinyl backing that you removed during the first application.

When you’re shopping for high-quality men’s t-shirts and women’s t-shirts for your iron-on Cricut designs, look no further than the amazing selection on CSO. If you’ve been shopping for blank t-shirts from a big box retailer, it’s time to stop. CSO offers generous discounts for customers who purchase t-shirts in larger quantities. Our bulk discount program starts at $110, and the savings up to 15% automatically appear in your cart when you bundle your items. You’ll also enjoy free shipping on orders $50 or higher, with always-fast delivery. Don’t delay! Find your perfect t-shirt for your iron-on design today.