3 Tricks to Avoid Wasting HTV Scraps: Silhouette Tutorial

If you're like me and you hate wasting material - including scraps - there are some tricks to making sure you get the most out of your materials.

This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own.

Heat Transfer Vinyl is not cheap at anywhere from $3 to $3.25 per 12x15" sheet of solid color Siser Easyweed.  Patterns and glitter HTV typically cost even more.

Pro World Inc has a wide selection of solid, glitter, and patterned Easyweed and Chemica heat transfer vinyl and it often comes in 15", 18" or 20" rolls. Since the Silhouette CAMEO can't cut wider than 12" that means the rolls need to be cut down to fit.

Cut Across the HTV Roll 

One trick so you're not trimming 3" off a roll is to actually cut across the roll.  Depending on the width of the roll that result in either a 12x15", 12x18" or 12x20" sheet of HTV that can be more manageable.

You can use the Silhouette CAMEO mat as a general guide - just keep in mind the margins!

This cuts your rolls down into sheets where you can better avoid scrap pieces as opposed to trimming down the roll itself.

Use the Mat Grid Lines and Silhouette Studio Drawing Tools

Many times, designs take up a portion of a sheet which can result in odd-shaped scraps being left over.  I say if it's bigger than a playing card it's worth saving - even if it's an odd shaped scrap like this pink camo HTV piece.  If you throw out all those small scraps you're throwing a way a lot of expensive material over time.  Sometimes all you need is a little piece of heat transfer vinyl.

To make sure you hit the scrap spot on when you're cutting, take advantage of the grids on both the virtual Silhouette cutting mat in Silhouette Studio and also on the actual cutting mat.  This works best with scraps that are not too odd of a shape like a square or rectangle.

Let's say you have a scrap that's about 2x1, place that scrap on your cutting mat with at least one edge up against a grid line. Note the boxes it's covering.

Now go into Silhouette Studio and from the Page Setup panel, turn on the grid lines by moving the Reveal bar to the right.

If the shape of the vinyl scrap is pretty easy to draw with one of the basic tools draw out the shape of the scrap using the Draw a Rectangle tool.  In this case after I drew out the rectangle then double clicked it to get the edit points and moved in the bottom left point to make it more closely match the shape of the actual scrap.

Place your design on top of the shape you drew out.

As long as the design is placed within the same grids in which the material is covering on the actual mat, you'll hit it when cutting.

Be sure to either delete the scrap piece shape or change it to "No Cut" from the Send panel before sending the design to cut.

 
And look how you took advantage of that HTV scrap!! This pink camo HTV from Pro World is $11.59 per yard or $3.86 per 18x12" sheet from Pro World so getting the absolute most out of it can really save you!

Using the PixScan Mat for Odd Shaped Scraps

You may be tempted to throw out the odd shaped scraps - of any size - thinking it will be nearly impossible to cut on them. The Silhouette Pixscan mat, however, makes it possible to cut accurately on any size or shape scrap!!

Grab your Pixscan mat and place your scrap piece of HTV on it - with the shiny side down just like you would normally cut. I had this piece of basketball pattern HTV from Pro World that I knew would be perfect to cut a small design.

Take a picture of your Pixscan mat and upload it into Silhouette Studio.

Now just open up your design and position it right over the image of HTV on the Pixscan mat.

Load the Pixscan mat into your Silhouette CAMEO and send to cut.

It's amazingly accurate! There's no way you'd be able to cut that accurately on a scrap that small without Pixscan.

Even using the grid lines on the mat and in Silhouette Studio would still make it a challenge to cut on such an odd-shaped scrap. But who wants to waste such fun specialty heat transfer vinyl like this? Not me!

Your days of wasted HTV are behind you now that you know how to take full advantage of your scraps! Head over to Pro World and check out their huge selection of patterned heat transfer vinyl.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I receive a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine!

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