HTV Vinyl: The only good reason to iron!

I have a confession to make. I hate ironing.

I’ve been known to rewash a load of laundry just because it’s wrinkly from the dryer. And I have solemnly sworn to never buy linen clothes again.

So it’s not really surprising that I don’t do a lot of heat transfer vinyl projects. I bought my Silhouette Cameo mostly for working with paper. It came with a nice sample pack of adhesive vinyl, and I have had a great time decorating all the things in the house with that, and I’ve purchased more to keep those projects going.

But it didn’t come with any iron-on vinyl, and I resisted trying it out.

I did create some really fun stenciled T-shirts – one with scrap vinyl, and then a couple more using freezer paper stencils.

Of course, that’s not really ironing. And as it turns out, HTV vinyl isn’t really ironing either.

With a coupon and a sale, a roll of basic white Silhouette smooth vinyl was very inexpensive at the craft store, so I figured I’d give it a crafterday afternoon whirl.

The package didn’t come with much instructions, but I’ve read like 10 thousand Pinterest Pins on the subject, so I had a good idea of the process. The most important detail is that because this type of vinyl is pressed on with an iron, you need to reverse your image before sending it cut so it doesn’t appear backward when finished. This is also true of cutting a freezer paper stencil, so that wasn’t too difficult.

What was even nicer was that the Silhouette Studio software even reminded me to do that – once I chose the “Heat Transfer, Smooth” as the material, when I clicked “Send” it asked me if I wanted to send it “As Is” or “Mirrored.”

My first project was to be the hand lettered design “Hello.” I used a black T-shirt that didn’t fit well as my test subject, because I wasn’t sure I was going to be super successful on my first try.

And it turned out to be a good idea.

I followed the instructions – use an iron set at “Cotton”, put a piece of parchment paper over the design and pressed for 45 seconds. You don’t move the iron around like ironing (thank goodness!) – you just press the one area. I lifted off the paper and peeled the clear carrier off as instructed. And was instantly disappointed.

I double checked the skimpy instructions, and it definitely said to peel the carrier off when it was warm. But in my arsenal of Pinterest Pins, I have this one, which leads to a blog post about about the difference between cold peel and warm peel vinyls. Basically some vinyls do better if you peel off the carrier when the project is still warm, while others adhere better if you wait until it cools.

In that post, two things caught my eye – 1) Vinyls listed as Warm Peel can just about always be done as Cold Peel, and 2) Cori specifically adds the note that she gets better results with the Silhouette brand vinyl as a cool peel.

So, cool, I thought to myself (see what I did there? 🙂 )

And I started again.

This time I tried out a different design – a new listing I’ve put in my shop for “Fri-Yay!). Just like the first go, I mirrored it and then weeded it so it appears backwards.

I pressed this one again, but at the end, I removed the parchment paper and then the HTV cool completely. Not just warm to the touch, but really cool. THEN I peeled off the clear carrier.

And my patience was rewarded!

I like to put decoration on the bottom hem of my T-shirts because it gives them double duty – if I wear this one under a cardigan, you won’t see the design, but if I wear it with jeans on Friday, you’ll know exactly how I’m feeling about the end of the week!

So a couple of takeaways from my trial of HTV –

1. I like it because it isn’t sticky and it’s easier to weed.
2. It doesn’t count as ironing because you are only using the heat of the iron to melt the adhesive, not really ironing out wrinkles and such.
3. Test your HTV on something you are willing to throw away first to make sure the brand is good with warm or cool peeling.

Pin this for when you decide you’d like to try out HTV T-shirt decorating.

This post will be linked up at some of these great link up locations.