When you want to personalize your clothes, you have two main options. You can either contact a textile customization company that will charge you an exorbitant price. Or you can decide to learn more on your own and start customizing your own t-shirts. 👕
In this tutorial, we are going to explain how to personalize your own t-shirt with the heat-transfer flock method. (This method is ideal for people who want to customize clothes professionally or simply as a hobby.)
The supplies for customizing your own t-shirts:
To customize your clothes with heat-transfer flock, you will need the right supplies and tools. Here they are:
1️⃣ - Heat-transfer vinyl
Heat-transfer vinyl (or HTV) is the consumable used to create a heat transfer onto textile, and it is generally sold by the roll.
The vinyl has two layers: its first layer is transparent (this is the carrier) and its second layer is the part that will be transferred onto the garment to create the design.
In this guide, we are going to use velvet-finish heat-transfer vinyl to bring an understated and distinctive touch to our project. ✨
2️⃣ - The cutting machine
The cutting machine lets you create the logo you want to make by cutting inside the heat-transfer vinyl.
Among the best-known machines are the Cricut Maker, the Silhouette Cameo, VEVOR, and SECABO
Since we are distributors of the Silhouette Cameo 5, this is the one we will use in this tutorial.
That said, we encourage you to look into all the cutting machines mentioned above so you can choose the one that best fits your needs. ✅
3️⃣ - A heat press (or an iron)
Once you have created your logo, it will need to be transferred and pressed onto the garment using heat. ♨️
To do this, you can use a heat press or an iron!
A question that comes up often when you want to customize your own t-shirts is the following: "Should I use an iron or a heat press?" 🤔
Here are a few tips that I think could help you:
◾If you are a beginner and want to customize clothes as a hobby, I recommend starting out with an iron, it will do the job perfectly.
◾If your goal is to create your own clothing brand or your textile customization company and you are truly passionate about clothing, buying a heat press is without a doubt what you need. 🫵
◾Avoid the portable presses that you can lift up (like in the image below), because they do not apply any pressure on the fabric. Go for genuine high-quality heat presses that will give your designs excellent durability through washing.
Finally, the price of a quality heat press ranges between 200 and 2000€. So do not rush in headfirst and make sure to choose a device suited to your needs and your level of experience.
4️⃣ - A t-shirt (or other garment)
To personalize your own clothes, you will of course need a textile (a quality one if possible). 👚
When you are starting out, you can run a few customization tests on your old fabrics or on the t-shirts in your wardrobe.
You can then move on to the serious stuff by ordering blank t-shirts.
Here are a few tips for ordering quality blank t-shirts online:
◾Among the best-known wholesalers of blank clothing, you can find Ralawise, Toptex, and Wordans.
◾ The thickness of the t-shirt (the weight) is not the only mark of quality, but it does ensure good durability over time. So go for t-shirts with a weight of at least 160g/m2.
As for sweatshirts, the minimum recommended weight is 280g/m2.
◾Here are a few clothing references that stood out to me thanks to their good value for money:
- Gildan 12500 (Sweatshirt)
- Gildan 2000 (T-shirt)
- SC276 (Zipped-collar sweatshirt)
- Fruit of the Loom 62-216-0 (Hoodless sweater)
- B&C CGSET (Hoodless sweater).
Test out the different qualities from the suppliers on the market for yourself to make your own choices. 😉
5️⃣ - A hook (optional)
We will come back to this in the second part of this blog post, but the weeding hook will be essential for weeding away the excess heat-transfer vinyl.
If you do not have a hook, you can also use tweezers.
Do you dream of customizing your clothes like a professional, right from home?
With our Magic Starter Pack, you have everything you need to get started: machines, supplies, heat-transfer vinyl, and even step-by-step training to nail your creations on the very first try.
7-Step Guide to Personalizing Your T-Shirt Yourself
Now that you know all the essential supplies for customizing your own t-shirts, we are going to guide you step by step through making your first design! ⬇️
Insert the logo to be cut into the machine's software
Once you have chosen the logo you want to cut, you will need to insert it into your cutting machine's software.
As for the Silhouette Cameo 5, the machine's software is Silhouette Studio (Free).
If you have a different cutting machine, we encourage you to follow a tutorial on Youtube to learn how to insert your logo into your machine's software.
Here is a short video that explains how to load your logo into the Silhouette Studio software to start the cut with the Silhouette Cameo machine (this tutorial works with the Silhouette Cameo 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 machines):
Next, enter the correct cut settings for the type of heat-transfer vinyl you are going to use.
Every vinyl has a different thickness, so it is necessary to enter the correct settings on the machine.
As for our heat-transfer vinyls, the cut settings are listed in the product description of each one to make things easier for you. 😎
We are now going to insert the roll of heat-transfer vinyl into the cutting machine.
Load the heat-transfer vinyl into the cutting machine
Unroll the roll of heat-transfer vinyl and place it inside the machine.
Some machines also use a mat onto which you must stick your heat-transfer vinyl before loading it.
Cut the heat-transfer vinyl with the cutting machine
As soon as the roll of heat-transfer vinyl is properly loaded into the cutting machine, switch over to the machine's software to start the cut.
⚠️ Important point: before starting the cut, make sure that your logo will be cut in "mirror mode".
Indeed, if you cut your logo the right way around on the machine, it will appear backwards once transferred onto your t-shirt. You therefore need to flip your logo horizontally (this is easily done in the software).
Weed the excess heat-transfer vinyl with the hook
When the cutting process is finished, remove the heat-transfer vinyl from the machine.
Take the part of the vinyl that was cut and set the rest of the roll aside.
You are now at the "weeding" step. This step consists of removing the excess heat-transfer vinyl from the transparent carrier so that you are left with only your logo on the carrier.
In figure 1, I remove the excess vinyl around my logo (you can do it with your fingers).
In figure 2, I have to remove the excess vinyl inside my logo. This task is delicate, so it must be done with a weeding hook (or tweezers if you do not have one).
Here is the result at the end of the weeding step. ⬆️🤩
Place the logo on the t-shirt
Now that your logo is perfectly visible, we are going to need to place it in the right spot on the t-shirt.
First, make sure that the room in which you are going to personalize your own t-shirt is "safe". Your iron or your press will need to heat up to 150 degrees, so remove any flammable items that are near you.
If you are using an iron, to protect your table during pressing, get an ironing mat or place your t-shirt directly on your ironing board. 👍
Lay your t-shirt on the mat (or on your heat press), take the logo and position it correctly on the t-shirt.
Here is a video in English that explains perfectly how to place your logo on a t-shirt:
Press the logo with your iron or your heat press
Preheat your iron or press to 150°C, and grab a sheet of baking paper.
When the iron is at the right temperature, place the sheet of baking paper over the logo (the sheet must fully cover the design).
The baking paper is useful for protecting the textile against the high heat. You can also use a Teflon sheet which will be more professional and more economical in the long run. 💰
Press with your heat press or your iron at 150 degrees for 20 seconds while applying good pressure on the fabric.
Remove the transparent carrier from the vinyl
Probably the most satisfying step of all: the reveal of the logo, also called "the peel" 🤤
Peeling consists of removing the transparent carrier from the vinyl (photo above). Some heat-transfer vinyls are peeled hot (so you remove the carrier right after pressing), while others are peeled cold (so you wait 30 seconds before removing the carrier).
Gently remove the transparent carrier. If your logo has not adhered to the t-shirt at all, press again with more pressure.
If your logo has stuck well, then remove the transparent carrier completely.
To make sure that your t-shirt customization will hold up perfectly through washing, take the sheet of baking paper again, place it over your logo and press once more for 10 seconds at 150 degrees. ✔️
Admire the result!
That's it! You have personalized your own t-shirt with heat-transfer flock. 😀
Are you interested in textile customization and would you like to personalize your own clothes professionally?
Order our Magic Starter Pack, which brings together all the supplies you need to start your clothing customization business!
As you can see in the images above, the result with velvet heat-transfer vinyl is great. (rest assured that it will hold up through all your machine washes!)
We obviously have plenty of other styles of heat-transfer vinyl in our shop. (such as glitter vinyl, 3D vinyl, and puff vinyl)
So explore our entire heat-transfer vinyl collection and choose the ones that appeal to you the most to personalize your own clothes!
