How to Use Heat Transfer Foil With Your Cricut

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Heat transfer foil used with your Cricut Explore or Cricut Maker is a great way to add an eye catching element to designs! This tutorial will show you how to use Siser EasyWeed Adhesive with heat transfer foil + show you some tips & tricks for the Cricut Easy Press.

Confession time! I initially did this project clear back in November 2019, but after getting caught up in the holidays (plus a sprinkle of procrastination), I’m only just now getting the tutorial up.

After participating in Happy Crafter’s free holiday cut file share, they were super duper nice and sent me some 2-step Heat Transfer Foil to try out and show you guys! They were even kind enough to send a shirt for me to use it on!

That being said, my opinions of this product are completely my own!

And let me tell you guys… this stuff is amazing. As much as I love glitter vinyl, heat transfer foil might be the new champion in my eyes for making designs POP!

I have used regular HTV foil in the past, but I’ve found that it’s pretty expensive and difficult to weed. The 2-step foil makes this so much easier, and I found that there was much less waste! Plus it’s super easy to weed and use!

I made a shirt in this tutorial, but foil would be great for holiday and birthday decorations, plus makeup bags and totes!

The ‘If Only Sarcasm Burned Calories’ design I used in this project is from my Fitness and Exercise SVG Bundle.

I’ve always been a casual exerciser, but I’ve been hitting the weights hard recently, and I wanted to make a cute shirt to keep my motivation up!

Two-Step Heat Transfer Foil – Tools and Supplies

• Cricut Maker / Cricut Explore / Silhouette Cameo
• T-shirt
• Design – I used one from this bundle
• Standard Grip Cutting Mat
• Weeding Tools
• Siser EasyWeed Adhesive – Step 1 Adhesive
• Happy Crafters 2 Step Foil – Step 2 Foil
• Cricut Easy Press or Easy Press Mini
• Cover sheet / Pillowcase / Tea Towel
• Scissors
• Ruler (optional)
• Lightbox (optional)

Heat Transfer Foil Tutorial

Prepare your file

First, you’ll want to open your design in cutting machine software, such as Cricut Design Space or Silhouette Designer.

Make sure to measure the object you are using the transfer on with a ruler.

Resize the design in your software so that it is the correct size for your project.

Important: you’ll want to make sure that the design is mirrored! Otherwise it will be backwards when you do the transfer.

Cut Settings

Before cutting the adhesive, you’ll want to make sure you have the correct settings.

Below are Happy Crafter’s recommended settings for the best possible cut.

If you are using a Cricut, you’ll want to make sure you are using the fine point blade.

Cut Your Project

Now for the fun part! Take your Siser EasyWeed Adhesive and place it on your mat shiny side down. Put the mat in your machine and start cutting your design!

Weed Your Project

Once your machine is finished cutting, you can then start to weed the negative space around your design. Since the adhesive is transparent, it can be a little tricky to see where the lines are. If you have a lightbox, it can really come in handy!

Or, you can always do my favorite trick – grab a clear storage container, flip it upside down and put a flashlight inside pointing up. Put the design on top of the container and voila! Instant light box.

I found that even though the design was a little tricky to see, it weeded really easily! To make things easier, I used my trusty weeding hook.

Iron On the Adhesive

Before adhering the iron on, I took my Easy Press and preheated the shirt fabric at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 seconds.

Then, take your weeded adhesive and line it up and place it on your shirt with the adhesive facing down.

Then take your heat press and press the adhesive onto the garment. I used my Cricut Easy Press at 300 degrees with medium pressure for about 20 seconds.

If you are using an iron, make sure to go over the edges of the design thoroughly. I would recommend using your iron for 25-30 seconds, then flipping the garment over and ironing the other side. Make sure you don’t use any steam!

The adhesive is a warm peel, so make sure to peel off the adhesive cover sheet while it’s still warm.

Iron On the Foil

Take your foil and carefully place it on the adhesive shiny side up.

Grab a teflon sheet, tea towel, or pillow case, and cover the foil.

Then, use your heat press and press the foil onto the garment. For my Easy Press, I used 300 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 seconds.

I used two different colors of foil for my project. To do this, I cut strips of foil with scissors to cover the different parts of the design. After making sure they were lined up properly, I ironed them all on at the same time.

Now here comes the hard part: waiting.

The foil MUST be cold before you peel it, or it won’t work! So make sure to be patient – no peeking! I am notoriously impatient, so I turned off my heat press and went to make myself a cup of tea so I wouldn’t get antsy.

Once I came back and the foil was cooled off, I peeled it off from the corner and was left with this gorgeous design! I’m beyond thrilled with how it turned out.

One thing to mention is that I’m not sure how well this will hold up in the wash as I haven’t tried that yet. I have been hand washing the shirt for a few months now, and it’s held up great!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful! I can’t wait to use foil for more projects in the future. Maybe I’ll grab some blue, green, and purple and make some mermaid designs in the summer!

How do you use foil? I hope you’ll share your ideas with me in the comments!