Thanksgiving Tea Towel With Heat Transfer Vinyl

One of my most favorite things ever is curating gift baskets/boxes for my people. Especially around the holidays! DIY tea towels are inexpensive and easy to make but they pack a punch when you tuck them into a basket of goodies. Read on to learn how to create your own Thanksgiving inspired tea towel with heat transfer vinyl!

Assuming you already have a cutting machine and cutting mat here are the supplies you’ll need:

Blank Tea Towel (I got mine from Hobby Lobby)
Craftables Smooth Heat Transfer Vinyl
Weeding Tool
Iron
Teflon sheet or thin cloth for pressing

(1) After setting up the design in Design Space and clicking “make it”, be sure to turn on the mirror option. You always need to mirror your designs when working with heat transfer vinyl.

(2) Place the smooth htv on the cutting mat with the shiny side facing down.

(3) Depending on your machine/software you may need to adjust the cut settings. The preset setting for heat transfer worked great for me.

(4) Remove the excess material from around the design then use the weeding tool to remove the smaller pieces from inside the letters.

(5) Pre-heat the tea towel with an iron or heat press for 5-10 seconds. Place the weeded design (sticky side down, so that the design reads left to right) on the tea towel and cover it with a teflon sheet or thin cloth.

(6) Using an iron or heat press, press firmly over the design for 10-15 seconds. If you’re using an iron, use it on the hottest setting. Heat presses should be set between 300 and 315 degrees.