Learn to make this Mermaid Life Tee using Patterned Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV). Free SVG File included to easily make your own tee!`
Making tees has become a favorite DIY project. The possibilities are endless! I’m a lover of all things mermaid so it is no surprise that I made another Mermaid t-shirt. But this time I used patterned heat transfer vinyl. The minute I saw the Mermaid scales patterned heat transfer vinyl on the Expressions Vinyl Website, I knew I had to have it.
Mermaids and unicorns are taking over the world, oh and llamas! I see them on everything and it makes me so happy because they are so cute! Trust me, you will be seeing some more mermaid, unicorn, and llama goodness on the blog!
Mermaid Life Tee using Patterned Heat Transfer Vinyl Tutorial
Supplies:
- Silhouette Cameo
- Mermaid Wishes Heat Transfer Vinyl
- Heat Transfer Vinyl (in your choice of colors)
- Silhouette Studio
- Free Mermaid Life file (Personal use only)
- Weeding tools
- Cricut EasyPress or Iron
Instructions:
- Open the Free Mermaid Life SVG File and size it to your desired measurements. Be sure that the file is all grouped together so that the size remains the same on all elements.
- If you will be using different colors for each word, you want to ungroup so that when you send to cut it will cut only that color. For example, I used pink HTV for the word “Mermaid”. I used purple for the top half of the word “Life” – the bottom half is the patterned HTV.
- Since we are working with iron-on vinyl we need to mirror our image. You want to select everything that will be cut and “flip horizontally”.
- When all the words are arranged – send it to cut. Be sure to select the material as Heat Transfer Vinyl – smooth if you are using regular HTV. Use the glitter setting if you are using glitter vinyl.
- Once everything has been cut, it is time to weed. Use the right tools to weed your design.
- Place the design on your t-shirt by aligning the words. Once aligned properly, use your Cricut EasyPress or iron to iron the design to your tee. Carefully, peel the backing and admire your work!
I had so much fun designing the Free Mermaid Life SVG file. The scales heat transfer vinyl is so fun! It really adds an extra element to the design. You can definitely use glitter vinyl or anything type of patterned vinyl – totally up to you! The watercolor background is vibrant and makes everything come together.
Have you used patterned heat transfer vinyl?
Wow! such a neat craft! I have never done heat transfer but this tutorial makes it look easy! Thanks for sharing!
I love the scale look on the letters. I need a shirt like this for summer.
That T shirt came out so cute. I love the fish scale look at the bottom, so shimmery.
Your design came out great. I have not used patterned heat transfer vinyl. I have a friend that loves doing projects like this.
What a fun tee to make. Love the colors. Perfect for summer.
What a neat idea, I love the textured look you have given the life – definitely has mermaid feel going on with it.
Oh my word, how cute is this? My niece is OBSESSED with mermaids, so she would flip her lid over this.
This is such a cute craft! Love it!
I love how this turned out. My daughter will want a shirt like this for sure. I need to start learning how to use vinyl so I can stop paying people to do it for me 😉
This is such a creative craft. I have to try giving it a try with my silhouette machine. My daughter would love to tee
Oh I love this! I was just talking to a friend about getting a heat press to do this.
I am going to forward this tutorial to my husband. He love designing shirt using different patterns.
I have never had seen or tried a heat transfer version in vinyl. It sure looks oh so lovely and mind you, you made it look super easy to do too! I want my own now and I know for a fact it would be perfect for my son’s custom shirts someday.
This is such a cute tee for summer. I am sure every girl would love one, great job!