Father’s Day is next month, so I thought I’d share an easy gift idea you can make with your cutter. I’ll show you how easy it is to apply this multi-color design to create the perfect custom apron! Read on for the full tutorial!
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED

HERE’S WHAT YOU DO

STEP 1: DOWNLOAD THE FREE SVG FILE

The first thing you’ll need to do is get the free SVG file you’ll use for this project.  I keep all the SVG files I use for the projects I make in my SVG Library.  These SVG files work with Cricut and Silhouette machines, as well as many others.  This library is open to everyone and is free!  You can access the library here. Look for the file called King of the Grill BA1539. It will be listed under the Father’s Day category.

STEP 2: CUT AND WEED VINYL DESIGN

Open the design in your software program and resize it so it fits on your apron. I resized my design to 7″ across. You might need to ungroup your design so you can cut the colors separately.

Since we are using heat transfer vinyl, you’ll need to mirror the design before you send it to your machine to cut. When everything is ready to cut, load the heat transfer vinyl onto your cutting mat with the shiny side facing down. Then, cut out the design.  When everything is finished cutting, remove the vinyl from your cutting mat and trim off any unused vinyl.

Weed away the excess vinyl from around the design.

Use the weeding tool to help remove the excess vinyl from inside the letters and shapes.

Once you’ve removed all the excess vinyl, you can flip over your design to see what it will look like.

Now that our vinyl is ready to go, let’s apply it to the apron.

 

STEP 3: APPLY VINYL TO APRON

Start by ironing the top of the apron to remove any wrinkles. Then, fold the apron in half and press with an iron or heat press to form a crease down the middle.

Grab the white vinyl and then place the yellow layer over the top.

The layers don’t have to matched up perfectly, but they should be close. You just want to get an idea of what the finished design will look like.

Now, fold the design in half and make a crease down the middle of the clear carrier sheet on the white layer.

Place the design on the apron. When you’re happy with the placement remove the yellow layer. 

Now, make sure the crease on the white layer matches up with the crease on the apron.

Now we are ready to add some heat and pressure. You can use an iron, easy press, or heat press. Press the design for just a couple of seconds. HTV shrinks when you add heat and we don’t want it to shrink too much before we are done layering.

So, just press the white layer for a couple of seconds so you can remove the clear carrier sheet.

Once you’ve removed the carrier sheet, you can add the yellow layer.

If the layers don’t match up quite right, you can cut apart the different sections of the yellow to help everything match up a little better.

When everything is layered correctly, place a Teflon sheet (or even parchment paper) over the top of the entire design. This time you can press the entire design for about 15 seconds.

Once you’ve applied even pressure to the entire design, you can carefully remove the carrier sheet.

After you’ve removed the carrier sheet you can flip the apron over apply more heat and pressure from the backside.

That’s all there is to it! Now, you have a custom-made apron for Father’s Day!

 

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Want to make your own? Get the free cut file for this project in the resource library

 

 

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