DIY Woodland Birthday Banner

Hi crafty friends, Ellen here! If you ever wanted to use Cricut Iron-On Vinyl I hope this blog post will help you a little bit on explaining what it is and how to use it. The example you see here in this blog post is an HTV woodland birthday banner.

The SVG’s used are the ‘Camping Tent’, ‘I’d Rather Be Camping’, ‘Sleeping Fox’ and ‘Cute Sitting Fox’ SVG Cut Files.

Iron-on vinyl or heat-transfer vinyl (HTV for short) is a very popular material for crafting with a cutting machine. To apply iron-on to your project, you’ll press it with a heat source, like a Heat Press, to activate the adhesive. 

You can use iron-on vinyl on a variety of materials including fabric (for example here on special leather:

HTV Travel Set Tutorial or on cotton bags: Valentine’s Day HTV Gift Bags, paper and even wood (for example check my Vinyl Bookmarks Tutorial:).

There are many different types of HTV, for example: 

• Patterned Iron-On
• Glitter Iron-On
• Foil Iron-On (shiny reflective)
• Holographic Iron-On (shiny multi-color finish)
• UV sensitive Iron-On (changes color in the sun)
• Glow in the Dark Iron-On
• Puff Iron-On (It’s soft with 3D effect)
• Sportflex Iron-On (stretchy)
• Smart Iron-on (can be cut without a mat specifically for Cricut machines)

After you created your design, it’s important to flip (mirror)  the design for cutting in the program you are using (I’m using Cricut Design Space), because need to place HTV “upside-down” – or “glossy side down” on the mat to cut. 

The next step is to weed the design (it means removing any excess vinyl that’s not part of the design).  After weeding you can press your design on the material. Be sure to protect your surface (you can use an EasyPress mat or a folded towel). For the best results, it’s good to use a lint roller to prep – some people also prewash the fabric, but this is not recommended if you will be selling the item. .

It’s important to follow the instructions of the HTV you’re using to know the time and temperature for applying the HTV.  If using Cricut, there is also a Cricut Heat Guide to help you). Some types of vinyl are a “warm peel”, while others are a “cool/cold peel”. The HTV instructions will tell you if you should remove the plastic carrier when it’s hot or cool. 

Tip: when layering multiple colors of HTV, you want to do a short press first, just enough to get the vinyl to stick to the fabric and peel away from the carrier sheet (usually 1/4 to 1/3 of the recommended pressing time). Once all your layers have been quickly pressed onto the material, you do a final press for the full time.

Iron-on vinyl is really fun to customize materials, just like I did here on this woodland birthday banner!

I hope I gave a good overview of HTV and inspired you to give it a try!
-Ellen

Affiliate Disclosure: I may be an affiliate for some products recommended in this post. This means that if you purchase items through my links I will earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products that I have personally used and enjoy and when you order through my link, it helps me continue to offer you weekly free SVG files, digital papers, scrapbook sketches, tutorials, and other fun things. Thank you in advance for your support!