How To Make Shirts With Cricut [a Complete Guide]

By Author: karenminton
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Making shirts with your Cricut is a lot more fun. Although, it takes a few steps that may intimidate you. But with proper guidance and tools, you will handle this. If you are concerned about the design, the Design Space provides you with many options to choose from or to create your own design. Even starting a business with your Cricut is a good idea if you want to take it to the next level. But before that, you need to be confident enough to make professional shirts. This blog will tell you how to make shirts with Cricut. Read it till the end and make your first shirt.

GETTING STARTED TO MAKE SHIRTS WITH CRICUT
To start making shirts, you will need a Cricut machine with which you can cut through Heat Transfer Vinyl and make the design to put on your shirt. Ensure to download the Cricut Design Space on your system. You get instructions to set it up in the Cricut box. Install your Cricut machine on a flat, hard surface that is spacious too. You also receive other accessories with your Cricut machines, such as a cutting mat and a weeding tool. The cutting mat is a large plastic tool that is sticky on one side and ...
... used to hold the vinyl while cutting.

A weeding tool or any other tools are small hook tools with a plastic handle. This tool helps remove excess vinyl pieces after the cut is finished. After the setup of your Cricut machine, get the Cricut Design Space downloaded on your PC. The Design Space is a software used to upload the designs and run the cutting on the Cricut machine.

SELECT YOUR MATERIAL
After the setup of the Cricut machine and Design Space, you have to select Heat Transfer Vinyl from the given list. Many Vinyl options are available, like permanent vinyl, but you will only need Heat Transfer Vinyl for preparing shirt projects. Cricut provides Heat Transfer Vinyl. However, you can also choose HTV from other brands, such as Oracle HTV, which is cheaper and more effective.

Then, you have to choose the shirt. You can choose the shirts from any brand and in any color. Cricut also owns the brand of its shirts, and you can select crew neck or v-neck shirts in this brand. But, if you don’t find it as expected, you can experiment on a pre-used T-shirt. It will work nicely. The third thing you should have is a Cricut Heat Press or any clothing iron. But I recommend using a Cricut Heat Press because it has a large flat surface and a Cricut pressing mat. You can buy the mat separately. Otherwise, a folded-up towel or an ironing board will also work well.

CHOOSE OR CREATE YOUR DESIGN
You need to choose or create any file to put on your shirt. You can either select and download a free SVG or create your own SVG using fonts and Design Space. If you want to create an SVG in the Design Space, download a font. The Design Space provides lots of fonts; many designs are especially given for T-shirts and vinyl fonts. Once you have selected a font, upload it to your Cricut Design Space. Then, use the type tool to create a word. Ensure to save the design, and the SVG file will be available to you.

START MAKING YOUR SHIRT
Now let’s see how to make shirts with Cricut. These are the steps involved in shirt making. Ensure to follow them correctly to put the design exactly as you want.

On the Home Page of Cricut Design Space, click on “New Project.”
When the canvas is open, a ‘text’ option will appear on the left-hand navigation bar. Click on that button. Then, a text box will open to add the desired text.

To change the font, click the dropdown menu at the top of the screen.

Now you have access to unlimited fonts in the Cricut Library. Select your preferred font.
It’s time to add your text. Also, on the Cricut Design Space Desktop App, there is an option to curve the design. First, select your text and click the ‘Curve’ option at the top of the screen. Then adjust your text using the sidebar that comes after you curve the text.

Once you are done, click ‘Make It.’ Now, the Design Space will send the information to the Cricut machine. Then, follow the instructions to continue the cut. Ensure to select “mirror” on the screen as you are using iron-on.

After cutting, unload your material and remove the unused iron-on from around the letters. This is what we call “weeding.”
Lastly, you need to apply the iron-on to the shirt using a heat press. Go according to the step-by-step guide in the Cricut Heat Guide. It will tell you the temperature the machine needs and the duration you need to press the material for the best results.
Source :- https://cricutsetupformac.com/how-to-make-shirts-with-cricut/

I am a Blogger and Designer .My interests range from technology to design. I am also interested in programming and education.