VIDEO: Watch the Printable Heat Transfer Vinyl Cricut Tutorial HERE

Most people have heard about the wonders of HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl), but what you may not have heard of is Printable HTV.  Just to eliminate any confusion, any time we refer to HTV, this is synonymous with Iron-On Vinyl….its all one and the same.

Just as the name implies, Printable HTV is used with printers (inkjet only), to create a custom image that can then be cut out using your Cricut or any other cutting machine.

You can use any brand you prefer, but I highly recommend purchasing Printable HTV intended for darker fabrics, no matter what type of fabric you are working with.  The reason for this is because I have consistently over time, always gotten better results in the vibrancy of my colors when printing on the vinyl for darker fabric. 

Supplies You Will Need:

1. Printable HTV (for darker fabric, even if you are working with light fabric).
2. Fabric to apply your vinyl to.
3. Cricut or any other cutting machine.
4. Cricut Cutting Mat.
5. Cricut Easy Press (You can alternatively use a heat press, and even an iron.  Beware though with using an iron because the heat an iron produces is not consistently distributed over the entire surface of the iron, therefore making it very difficult to administer the correct amount of heat evenly to your project. Also DO NOT USE STEAM!!
6. Parchment paper or teflon sheet for heat barrier.
7. Cricut weeding tool.
8. Lint Roller or Masking Tape.
9. Computer or tablet to operate your cutting machine.
10. Your design of choice—Get your free download of the succulent I designed just for this project!

Step 1

Open Cricut Design Space and open a new project. You can do this by clicking ‘New Project’ in the top right hand corner, which will take you to the Cricut Design Space Canvas.

Step 2

Upload your image by going to the left hand side of the page and clicking ‘Upload.’  This will take you to the ‘recently uploaded images’ page.  Click on ‘Upload Image.’  Search for your image or design you want to use, click it, and it will upload. 

Cricut Design Space will ask you what type of image you have. 

Always choose ‘Complex’ and then Click ‘Continue’.

Step 3

You should now be on the ‘Select and Erase’ page.  This page allows you to select and erase parts of your image that you don’t want on your final project. 

If you are using my Free Downloadable Succulent image, then you don’t have to worry about doing anything else in this step and you can click ‘Continue’.

Step 4

You should now be on the ‘Name and Tag Image’ page.  This is VERY IMPORTANT to tell Cricut Design Space that you want this to be a Print Then Cut Image.  There should only be two options available to choose at this point on the screen.  So select the option on the left, which is ‘Save as a Print Then Cut image’ and then choose ‘Save’ in the bottom, right hand corner

Step 5

The next screen should allow you to select the image you want in your canvas.  Select your image and it should become outlined in green.  Then go to the bottom right hand corner and select ‘Insert Images’.

Step 6

Re-size your image to fit your project.  I’m using a 8” embroidery hoop so i chose to make my image 5’’ to fit in the center of the hoop. 

To re-size your image, make sure it is selected,  then go to ‘size’ at the top of the screen.  Type in whatever dimensions you desire.  If you are following along with my project, then you would type ‘5’ next to the ‘W’.  The lock icon just above where you type the ‘5’ in the Width box, indicates that as you change one of the dimensions, Cricut Design Space will keep things proportional and automatically change the other value to keep the image size from distorting. 

Now Click ‘Make It’ in the top right hand corner of the screen.

Step 7

You should see a black square outlining your image on the screen.  This is referred to as a registration mark and it lets your Cricut machine ‘see’ your image so it can cut it with the most precision possible. 

Don’t forget to read on your specific brand of Printable HTV whether or not you need to click ‘Mirror’ for your image.  If you do need to do this, then this is the step where you have to select the option to mirror your image.  My brand of HTV does not require this, in case you watch the video tutorial and notice I did not select it. 

Click ‘Continue’

Select ‘Add Bleed.’  This will make the image look somewhat distorted after it prints, but bear with me, because it will look great once we are all finished. 

Click “Print”.

Step 8

Select your material.  Click ‘Browse All Materials.’  Type in ‘printable’ in the search bar.

Select ‘printable iron on, dark.’

Step 9

Load your blue cutting mat with your image you just printed.  Slide the mat into the Cricut and press the flashing arrow button.  It will load the mat into the machine.  Click the flashing Cricut logo button to start cutting your image.  After it finishes, unload the mat by clicking the flashing arrow button again.

Step 10

Flip your mat over with the vinyl facing down.  Begin slowly peeling the cutting mat from the vinyl.  Once you see the vinyl, hold it down, while you continue to slowly peel the mat off.  After the mat is completely removed, start weeding the vinyl by picking at one corner with your weeding tool until you see the vinyl starting to separate from the backing paper.  Once you have enough vinyl separated from the backing paper, you can grab it with your finger and continue to separate by slowly peeling it back.  This will leave you with the backing paper and the vinyl containing your printed image. 

Step 11

Start Pre-Heating your Cricut Easy Press.

Press the ‘Power’ button and then the ‘thermometer’ button (it has the thermometer icon on it). 

Set the temperature to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and the time for 30 seconds. 

The orange Cricut logo will turn from orange to green once it is ready to use.

Step 12

Prep the fabric you are going to place the Printable HTV on.  Lay the fabric on top of your Easy Press Mat and iron out any wrinkles using your pre-heated Easy Press.  This also serves to pre-heat the fabric to prepare it to apply the HTV to.  Follow this with using a lint roller or masking tape over the surface of the fabric to remove any bits of fuzz, dirt or debris. 

Step 13

Slowly peel your Printable HTV design, off the backing sheet.  Typically transfer tape is not required with Printable HTV.   Place it on top of your fabric with the color side facing up towards you.  Use a piece of parchment paper or a teflon sheet to lay over the vinyl as a barrier between your Easy Press and vinyl. 

Center your Easy Press over the decal and apply light pressure.  Immediately press the green Cricut button to start the countdown time. 

If you have any problems with the vinyl fully adhering, you can place the Easy Press on top of it for 10 second intervals until it fully attaches. 

Step 14

Center the image on in your embroidery hoop by placing the the fabric between the inner and outer ring of the hoop.  Trim the excess fabric from edges, making sure that fabric is taunt and the hoop is fulling tightened prior to trimming any material.

Step 15

Treat yo’self to some bragging rights and display your beautiful decor for everyone to see.