Brainstorming
I thought of a couple of ideas. I really love the movie Elf. I have pillows and sweatshirts from the movie, and it would be cool to make my own Elf crew neck. I also really like flowers, and the idea of making a t-shirt with a flowery design. My last idea was a shirt for my dance team. We have to wear studio clothes when we go to competition, so it would be nice to make some more.
Finding A Design
After researching designs for a while, it became apparent that really only the Elf shirt would work out. There weren't enough colors to make a dance shirt, and I couldn't find any good flowery clip art. I found Buddy the Elf's hat and made a plan to use that and his quote of "Santa I Know Him!"
Illustrator
I uploaded my design to Illustrator and used Image Trace and Ungroup to separate each color. I made all the things that are green (because there were multiple) all grouped together, so it would be easier later. With each color separted, I uploaded the design to my flash drive and went to the lab.
Vinyl Cutter
I used my flash drive to add my design onto the computer. I put each color onto Cut Master 4 which told the vinyl cutter how to cut my design. I cut out each of the four colors on the vinyl cutter. I used the large paper cutter to cut off the extra vinyl.
Weeding
After each piece was cut out, I used the weeding tool to weed out each color off the vinyl. This prepares them to be put on the heat press.
Heat Press
I put my sweatshirt on the heat press and held the press down for 10 seconds. This made my sweatshirt lie flat for my design. I had to work from the back to the front in my image, so the first color was green, then yellow, then red, then black. I laid the green vinyl on the sweatshirt and tried to center it. Once it was where I wanted it, I put down the protective cloth and pushed the heat press down till it clicked. The heat press set a timer that released after 14 seconds. I repeated this process for each color and lined up each color to fit right in the design.
Final Sweatshirt
This unit refreshed my vinyl cutting skills. I haven't used the vinyl cutter in a while, so it was kind of weird. Also, I learned a lot about the clothes making process. Mr. Willauer explained the difference of screen printing and using the heat press. It is interesting to understand how the prints on my clothes are made. Lastly, I learned how to use a heat press. I've never used one before, so this was a new skill.