Here in this blog post, we'll share some tips on when to choose polyester over cotton and vice versa. As mentioned above, it is recommended to preheat the material before using the HTV in polyester. Preheating not only opens the pores of the fibers, ensuring a better result with the HTV in the material, but also helps to evaporate any traces of moisture that may be on the fabric. It is the method used to glue the vinyl that will decide which one is best for each project.
The best way to remember this is that if you work with a very smooth and hard surface, then an adhesive vinyl is probably the best option. If you work with most fabrics or other surfaces that can tolerate high temperatures, then a heat transfer vinyl will be best. You can read more tips for the cricut EasyPress and an example of the configuration settings needed for it in this blog post. My almost first experience with the Cricut Maker was making 14 t-shirts and having to use my old iron to iron them.
If you want to see the whole project, from the design in Cricut Design Space to the finished project, I have made a video that will show you every step in detail. I then lowered the temperature of my Cricut EasyPress from 305 to 290°F and pressed the top layer for 5 seconds. If you use a Cricut Maker, you can choose the materials to iron directly in Design Space. I always wanted to learn more about how to use a Cricut (for ironing), and this tutorial was amazing and easy to understand.
Lately I've been writing more basic Cricut tutorials that beginners should know to get the most out of their machine right out of the box. For cotton and polyester, Cricut Everyday Iron On will be your best choice for “normal vinyl”, and almost all Cricut specialty vinyl, such as glitter and foil, will work as well. Cricut has an interactive heat guide that provides time and temperature settings depending on your HTV and base material. I love everything you do, trying to learn my cricut and you are a great help, I want to be as amazing as you, thanks for all the tutorials.
I've been crafting with my lovely Wild Rose Cricut Explore Air 2, which is found exclusively at JOANN. Siser, Cricut, Specialty Materials (Thermoflex), Stahl and StarCraft indicate which types of HTV can be applied to specific fabrics. If you've ever experimented with your Cricut EasyPress (or a traditional heat press), you've probably burned materials.
