Baby Girl Onesies | Heat Transfer Tutorial

I have just fallen in love with heat transfer material all over again!

Not because I was procrastinating, but because I have been so busy (ahem)…I waited until the day of a baby shower to start on my gift.  I got up early and went out shopping for onesies, pants, and embellishing materials.

Then I came home and started making things up.  I had done a little research (á la Pinterest) and decided I wanted to make a cute necklace onesie, so that’s where I started.  Out of the heat transfer colors I had on hand, I decided silver would be the color for my necklace “beads.”  That way it would go with both the pants in the set I had purchased, which were grey and bright peach.

I picked up some pre-made sheer flower-petal trim out of a softer shade of peach (from Jo-Ann Fabrics) so I could make some feminine flowers quickly.  (I can make flowers like these with my CAMEO, but this saved a lot of time.)  For the fabric flowers, I layered the flower trim and hand-stitched it with needle and thread.  I added one to a baby headband I made and saved another for the onesie.

Now for the heat transfer.  It is so easy to cut and use.  You just have to remember to flip your design to a mirror image, because you’ll be cutting the back side of the material.

I designed a necklace in Silhouette Studio with some partial ovals and my Rhinestone Tool (in Studio Designer Edition).  Here is the necklace cut file (for Silhouette Studio).  You’re welcome.  🙂

When your design is ready to cut, be sure to set your Cut Settings to the correct heat transfer material.  The smooth setting is best for smooth (regular) heat transfer.  The flocked setting is best for flocked or glitter heat transfer.  All three are wonderful. ♥

You can use a cutting mat to load the heat transfer into your Silhouette machine, or you can just load it straight from the roll or the sheet.  The blade settings remain the same either way.  If you load it without a mat, make sure to adjust your rollers so the material is securely between both white roller wheels.

The clear side goes down, the dull side faces up.  The clear side will become your transfer tape once you’ve weeded away the excess material.  The clear backing is sticky so it holds on to the heat transfer, which is not sticky on its own.  The heat transfer has to be activated by heat to get it to stick to anything.

Once you’ve cut the design, use a hook tool to weed away the excess material.  I actually like weeding heat transfer more than adhesive vinyl, because it isn’t sticky and won’t attach itself to unwanted parts of your design by accident.  …Not that that’s ever happened to me. 😉

If you’ve got text, it will still be in reverse until you flip it over to apply it to your fabric.

To apply it to your fabric, you just put it shiny-side up, sticky side against the fabric.  Then iron.

Some tips for ironing:

• I usually iron straight onto the clear backing, but it’s a good idea to start out with something between your heat transfer and your iron like a thin cloth, a piece of paper, parchment paper (not waxed paper or freezer paper).
• Flocked heat transfer takes longer to adhere than smooth because it’s thicker.
• Press and hold, then lift, to move your iron around; rubbing back and forth can cause your design to move out of place by accident.

Note: It’s also a good idea to wash and dry any clothing first to remove any fabric softeners, and do not add any fabric softeners or dryer sheets when washing/drying.  This can prevent the transfer material from adhering to the fabric.

Once the design is stuck to your fabric, peel away and discard the clear transfer backing.  For the necklace design, I stitched the flower to the onesie with needle and thread to give it that extra fancy element.  Fancy Nancy would be so proud of me!  And don’t forget the matching headband!

Time was almost up at this point, but the heat transfer is so fast that I just picked two adorable designs in the Silhouette design store and cut them with my CAMEO to apply to my remaining two white onesies.  The teal color is smooth, and the grey is flocked.

Ooh, baby, she’s going to be adorable wearing these!  (I had to tell the mom-to-be that I made these, because I don’t think she could tell.  They turned out too well. 😉  )

So are you ready to try heat transfer material yet? If you have questions about using it, please ask!  I don’t use it as often as I work with paper, but I pretty much love it every single time.

Designs Used:
Phrase: little girls (Silhouette Design ID #4801)
“Sweet” outline word (Silhouette Design ID #15550)
Necklace for onesie (my design)