Hi there! It's Becky and Glenna from My Paper Craze substituting in again today! We're so excited to be here and share with another great tutorial!
The best part about being crafty and having kids is getting to make stuff for them (especially girls!). I have spent a small fortune buying up those cute applique embroidery shirts, especially when the holidays come around or we would take a vacation.
True, there is always HTV and man do I love that stuff, but for little girl's outfits, sometimes you just need a softer look. When I ran across new-sew fusible webbing, I knew I had hit the jackpot!
So the fusible webbing I purchased is Thermoweb Heat'n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive (affiliate link). Amazon had a ridiculously good deal (of course!) and I ended up with 17" x 5 yards (I know!), so I'll be fusing until the cows come home for about eleven bucks (free Prime shipping!). I've heard that other brands do just as well, this is just the brand I ended up with.
So here are the supplies you'll need, regardless of the design you choose:
- Silhouette (of course!)
- T-shirt (or other surface to adhere your fabric to)
- Thermoweb Heat'n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive†(affiliate link)
- Scissors (more as back-up)
- Heat press (or household iron)
- Heat Transfer Vinyl (optional, but highly advised)
Also, if you are not familiar with cutting fabric on your Silhouette, be sure to check out this earlier tutorial, it'll explain the details. I don't believe in reinventing the wheel, so I'll just assume that you have clicked over, read it and have decided to proceed (I'll wait). It'll also explain why the HTV is advised, but we'll go into that later on.
1. First step, go ahead and set up your design in Silhouette Studio. If you think you'll proceed with the HTV option, go ahead and set that up as well (we did!). If you don't know what I mean, see the tutorial above.
2. With fabric and design of your choice, go ahead and cut the pieces you need with your Silhouette and set them to the side. We actually used freezer paper instead of the Silhouette fabric interfacing - worked like a charm! You can remove the freezer paper once the fabric is cut.
3. With the scissors, cut a length of fusible material and re-cut the same design that you did in the fabric. You need these to be identical. Apply the Heat'n Bond to your cutting mat rough side up. I used the preset vinyl settings in Silhouette Studio and it turned out pretty well on the mat. (Now you can cut your HTV if needed.)
4. Line up the fabric shape and the fusible material on your ironing surface (such as on the bottom plate of your heat press). You want the rough side to be on the back side of your fabric. Once you have BOTH LAYERS of your design in place, go ahead and apply the heat to fuse the fabric and the heat'n bond together.
I keep my heat press on 305 degrees and press for 15 seconds. If you are using a household iron, the length of your ironing will depend on the temperature. TIP: just as you would with HTV, keep your iron constantly moving and be sure to iron on a hard, flat surface, such as tile.
5. Now that your fabric and bonding material are one, go ahead and peel off the paper backing of the Heat'n Bond. Lay out the t-shirt on your ironing surface, line up the design and apply the heat again. Now that the backing is off, it will fuse straight to the t-shirt.
6. Now, to secure those loose fabric edges, we suggest you apply a layer of HTV around the edges.
While we haven't had a ton of issues with
the fabric fraying since the fusible material keeps it adhered pretty
well, I vote with better safe than sorry. Plus, who doesn't like that
nice pretty (and glittery!) border around their design?!
A few tips...
Just as a precaution, I still was my handmade stuff on the gentle cycle or hand wash, but all the reviews I've read say it's not necessary!
During this project, I wondered if I could just use the Heat'n Bond and go ahead and adhere it to my fabric instead of the freezer paper (to stiffen it up for cutting). The answer is a big, fat NO. †Once heat is applied to the fusible material, it becomes gummy and will either not cut or will gum up your cutting blade.
As always, a huge shout out and thank you to Melissa for having us today!† We hope to bring you more tutorials and projects in the future, so stay tuned!
Thanks for coming to class today at Silhouette School. If you like what you see, I'd love for you to pin it!
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How do you use freezer paper instead of interfacing? The link to cutting fabric tutorial was not there.
ReplyDeleteSorry for any confusion Nadine! You iron the freezer paper onto the fabric so that it will be stiff enough to cut the fabric (you still need a mat). Here is the link to the first tutorial by Melissa, it just has a little sewing in there, but much more detail on using the HTV for the border... http://www.silhouetteschoolblog.com/2015/03/fabric-and-glitter-htv-silhouette.html
ReplyDeleteSO awesome! Can't wait to try it!!!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI am working on a similar project for some shams, and I just wanted to ask how the monogram has held up. I, too, was going to enlist my seamstress to stitch the border of the monogram (just for a more secure hold and to look a little more finished) but am afraid to because of the ultra bond instructions. Have the edges warped/come apart from the velvet? Thanks for your time!!!!
Thank you very much! Did the heat n bond survive several wash cycles?
ReplyDelete