DIY Growth Ruler Chart Tutorial (Free Silhouette Studio Cut File)

A few weeks ago my husband's cousin welcomed twin girls...perhaps you've seen me gushing all over them on Instagram?  Well...I can't stop making stuff for them and today's tutorial is no exception.   I needed an excuse to make a growth ruler chart and I finally got not one, but two!   These growth charts are really popular right now and sell for big bucks on Etsy..and I can see why - it's actually a decent amount of work (says the perfectionist in me who had to start over like 4 times).  Anyway, I've finally got it figured out and I'm here to share some tricks of the trade.

The growth chart ruler I made is a slight variation on the traditional growth charts since I was making it for twins. I wanted each of the girls to be able to be measured on the same chart, but I didn't have enough room to put two sets of ruler markers so...I opted to center the markings down the middle so each of the girls' heights could be marked on 'their' side.

To start you need a piece of wood. I purchased a 12'x10"x2" at Home Depot and had a nice gentleman in the lumber department cut it in half for me.  (I ended up making a second one for another cousin who is having a baby this fall.)


If you're only making one, you'll just need a 6' piece of wood unless you are making it for someone who has a whole lot of height in their genes....

Before you even start with your Silhouette, make a detour to your garage or workshop and sand that baby down. Get all the splinters out and make it really smooth.  While I was at HD I also picked up a mess up sample jar of pink paint for a whole 50 cents. I think I actually looked at my 3 year old and said "SOLD!!" when I saw what a deal it was and in the perfect shade of pink.

Next we painted...and by 'we' I mean me and my 3 year old. He made a mess, I evened it out. We're a good team.   I put on two coats covering all the sides and the front...letting the paint dry between each coat.



While the paint is drying you can start getting your vinyl design ready.  I'm going to share mine here with you for free....BUT you have to promise you'll keep these for personal use only.  I've included the 'twins' lines that are centered, and the traditional left aligned ruler marks.

DOWNLOAD the FREE Growth Ruler Chart Lines Here V3

DOWNLOAD the FREE Growth Ruler Chart Lines Here V2

I added the names in gray to my growth chart first so that the ruler lines would layer on top of them.  I cut the names on dark grey 651. The 651 (aka permanent adhesive vinyl) has a good stick to it so I didn't need anything to encourage the vinyl to stick to the painted wood.

Now for cutting the ruler lines. I have to admit this takes a lot of vinyl...but unless you want to try to line up the lines perfectly straight and perfectly an inch apart, you'll need two yards of vinyl for the 6' growth chart. 

After you've cut the ruler lines, weed it.  I used transfer tape instead of transfer paper because it's easier to see through and I have a 100 yard roll (yes, 100 yards of tape from Expressions Vinyl).
In this photo, look closely and you can see the transfer tape is already laying nice and flat on my vinyl and it's ready to be added to the growth chart.

 

Lay your tape or transfer paper down onto of the vinyl design, but don't pull the tape or paper up yet. Instead, you want to use the hinge method detailed here to make sure it's perfectly aligned on your piece of wood. So go ahead and move the vinyl backing with vinyl topped by transfer material onto your piece of wood.  You'll notice I started at the 1 inch mark, so position the first vinyl mark an inch up from the bottom of the board.

When you're sure you've got everything aligned perfectly and you've added your 'hinge' of tape you can go ahead and peel back the transfer paper, remove the backing and lay down the vinyl.  (I apologize this is the only photo I have of this step, I was working very quickly and forgot to snap a better  photo. I can tell you, I worked in sections with several 'hinges'.)

After all of my markings were down, I added the numbers.

Most rulers would have the numbers all on the same side, but because this is for twins and I wanted to add their names to each side, I had to split the numbers.

I make it sound so easy...meantime this thing actually cost me about 4 yards of white vinyl, a few choice words, and perhaps my first gray hair. Hopefully, however, you can learn from what I learned in making a DIY growth ruler chart so that yours will go a bit more smoothly.

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Thanks for coming to class today at Silhouette School.  If you like what you see, I'd love for you to pin it!