Make an adorable “Hoppy Easter” shirt for your child today, using your Cricut Maker and a heat press!
Keep scrolling for the full details and how-to from Naomi from How To Heat Press.
Easter is fast approaching, and if you’ve got a Cricut in your craft stash, there’s no excuse for your kids not to have a custom Easter t-shirt for the big day.
I’m Naomi from How To Heat Press, and in this post I’m sharing how to make this cute “Hoppy Easter” themed toddler t-shirt today. Hopefully we inspire you to recreate it for your child as well!
Choose & Arrange A Cut File
To make this tee I’m using the Cricut Maker, along with their Design Space software. I’ll show how to make it step-by-step, which will be especially helpful if you are new to Cricut.
I chose and downloaded the SVG for this project from Creative Fabrica. They have tons of Easter themed SVGs, and are one of my favorite sites for craft SVGs, fonts, and graphics.
I created a new project in Cricut Design Space, uploaded my cut file, and inserted it into my new project. I made my design 7 and a half inches wide for my toddler tee. The design is pre-welded so I don’t need to attach it, or weld it.
It’s all ready to go!
Next, I mirrored my design. This is a very important step if you are using HTV. The Cricut Maker will cut out the design in reverse, so that when you press it, it will go on the shirt the right way around.
Cut The Design
I’m going to cut my design out with Siser glitter heat transfer vinyl.
I love using Siser glitter, it is a really pretty iron on vinyl. In my material settings I searched for ‘glitter’ and selected Glitter Iron-On.
Now it’s time to cut.
*Originally I cut the text and rabbit design in one color. However, the rabbit design was too intricate to weed in the original size. There were so many tiny dots that were lost. I had to re-cut the rabbit in a larger size. More info below!
I placed my glitter HTV color side down on my standard grip mat, and loaded it into my machine.
Depending on the brand of glitter HTV you’re using (I’m using Siser), you may want to do a test cut. Glitter HTV is thinner or thicker depending on the brand, so do a test cut to see whether you need more or less pressure, or whether the default pressure is fine.
After the Maker cut out my design, I weeded away the excess heat transfer vinyl from my design.
You will see the bunny is in purple HTV! Originally, I cut the entire design out in blue HTV, but the bunny was way too small with all the intricate details, and the weeding was a disaster.
The little dots in the bunny all lifted up and got lost in the HTV. Sometimes this happens with intricate designs, and it’s OK, you just have to try again and make it larger!
So, I went back to my original design, sliced out the bunny, deleted the writing, made the bunny bigger, and cut it out again. The second time the bunny was 3.3 inches wide (an inch larger than the first try). I also used this as a good excuse to add another color of HTV to my shirt.
The second bunny was much easier to weed, being an inch larger, though it was still quite the challenge and took me a while. You’ll definitely want to make the bunny a reasonable size if you want any chance of weeding it successfully. It’s just really very intricate. I do love the design of it though!
Heat Press The Design
Now I’m ready to press my design, and I’ve opted to use the PowerPress heat press for this project. You can use a heat press, the Cricut EasyPress, or an ordinary household iron.
I turned on the press and set the temperature to 320°F for Siser Glitter HTV. Once my machine had finished heating up, I pre-pressed my garment for a few seconds to remove moisture and wrinkles.
Siser recommends 15-20 seconds of pressing time for glitter HTV. After pre-pressing my t-shirt, I pressed my design for 15 seconds, using firm pressure. I always use a Teflon sheet over my design to protect my HTV.
After 15 seconds I let the design cool slightly and then peeled the carrier sheet warm. Then, I always like to press for the last few seconds without the carrier sheet. This way, there won’t be any annoying marks left behind in the fabric. So, I pressed my design again for 5 more seconds, with my Teflon sheet over top.
All done! I really like the hand-lettered font in the design.
And that’s it! Isn’t that easy? I hope our quick tutorial encourages you to make a tee for your kids this upcoming Easter holiday. It’s really simple, and it’s fun seeing something you personally made on your kids. Am I right?!
Love this craft? Have a question or comment? Please don't be shy! I love hearing from you and I promise I will respond as soon as possible.