Monday, February 24, 2014

Cricut Canvas Tote Iron-On Tutorial


I am notorious for carting around a plethora of craft supplies.  I take them to friends' houses to work on projects.  I take them to work sporadically for special mission.  And occasionally, when wonderful people buy from my Etsy shop, I have to tote their shipments to the post office.  Amazingly enough - I don't have a bag to help me in my mission.  Well... didn't.  I DIDN'T have a bag.  Until now!

In this tutorial, I use my Cricut Expressions 2 to cut iron-on material and apply to a canvas tote.  Let's get started!

Materials
Canvas Tote
Iron-On Material
Cricut Expressions 2
Iron
Ironing Board
Cotton Cloth
Paper Cutter
X-Acto Knife
Ruler
Sewing Pins

1.  Unroll your canvas tote, wash and iron out the wrinkles.  Set aside.
2.  Decide on the size and layout of your design.  My design is 12" x 4".  Cut your vinyl to size.
3.  Apply material to the Cricut cutting mat - liner side DOWN.  See below - the liner side is the shiny/plastic side.  Insert your mat into the machine.
4.  Create your design on your Cricut machine.

**REMEMBER!!!** For iron-ons, you will be cutting the MIRROR image of your design. 

Put the phrase into the line, spelled backwards and size to fit.
Looks pretty good but it's not the MIRROR IMAGE.  Select a letter and the Edit pencil.
In the Edit screen, flip the image horizontally (the second option) and hit Save (the disc). 
MUCH BETTER!
5.  Reference the Cricut cutting instructions for the settings appropriate for your machine.  On the Cricut Expressions 2, I just selected Vinyl Kiss Cut and changed my blade dial to 4.
6.  Select Cut and watch it goooo!
7.  Once the design is fully complete, eject from your machine and remove material from the mat.  Because you did a kiss cut, the liner should not be cut at all.

8.  Carefully remove the excess material around your design and any pieces that you won't to iron onto the tote.  This is called "weeding".  Cricut sells a lot of "weeding" tools.  I just use an X-Acto knife.  Set aside.
9.  Turn on the iron and put on the highest setting.
10.  Figure out the position of your design.  Use sewing pins to mark the corners and set aside your design.
11.  Lay your cotton cloth over the canvas tote and pre-heat the material.  This means - iron the material to warm it up - this helps adhere the iron-on to the canvas.  **NOTE : You still have NOT put your design on the tote.
12.  Now that your material is prepped, take off the cotton cloth, place your design, remove the sewing pins, and recover with the cloth material.  Phew!
13.  It's go time!  Using gentle pressure, press the iron onto your design to adhere.  Use a "lift and press" method, instead of a sweeping motion.  Leave iron on design for 10-15 seconds per location.  Flip canvas tote over and iron from the back side.  Flip again and repeat lift and press over entire design again.
14.  You're almost done!  Allow the design to cool 5-10 minutes.  Pull up a corner of the design to test if iron-on material is fully adhered.  IF THE DESIGN IS LIFTING, place cotton cloth back on top of design and re-iron, focusing only on the area that is lifting. 
15.  When design is fully ready, pull liner away from design at a 45* angle.  Move slowly and keep your eye out for lifting.  If you do have some, don't panic.  Place the liner back down, place the cotton cloth on top and iron the location (focusing only on the area that is lifting).  Allow to cool 5-10 minutes and try again.
Ta-Da!!!  All done!

I have already used this bag extensively!  I love that I always know where my craft stuff is when I travel with it and ... well, it's cute.  :)  I hope you are inspired to make your own!

9 comments:

  1. It looks so clean and nice! Great, thorough tutorial too! :)

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