Go Beyond the Shirt: Use Heat Transfer Vinyl on Home Décor [+ Sign Vinyl Inspiration]

We think heat transfer vinyl and we immediately think shirts, lots and lots of shirts. Almost as if we’re robotic about it. Day in and day out…

  • Plot your design.
  • Send it to your cutter.
  • Weed while the machine cuts the next design.
  • Press.
  • Repeat. Repeat. Repeat…

But what if we take a minute and think outside the box (or in this case the shirt)?

The possibilities extend beyond the normal wearable fabrics and into our home or office.

Surprising Home Surfaces for Heat Transfer Vinyl

Heat transfer vinyl (HTV) can be used on more than just the standard 100% cotton. Try HTV, such as our exclusive line of Xpress Cut Vinyl, on these surfaces:

  • Wood. (Ensure the wood has a smooth surface. HTV can be used on raw, stained, or painted wood.)
  • Burlap.
  • Canvas.
  • Cork.
  • Fabric other than wearables. (Try HTV on dish towels, placemats, blankets, and more.)
  • Sports Balls. (Yes, really. Customize footballs, basketballs, and more.)
  • Glass.*
  • Ceramics.*
  • Metal. (Ensure your metal is clean and smooth.)*

Make sure to test your HTV on each surface before applying your entire design, and purchase extra vinyl and product blanks.

*Do not wash in the dishwasher.

SHOP HEAT TRANSFER VINYL NOW

A Little Inspiration to Get You Started

Enhance any room with throw pillows showing your favorite quote, monogram, or graphic.

Heat Transfer Vinyl on Blue Throw Pillow from Coastal Business Supplies

Decorate for birthday parties or dorm rooms with customized burlap banners.HTV Decorative Banner - Coastal Business SuppliesCustom Birthday Banner with Heat Transfer Vinyl - Coastal Business Supplies

Create custom cork coasters to brighten up any conference room.

HTV Coasters by Coastal Business Supplies

Even More Home Décor Possibilities with Sign Vinyl

We all love HTV because of its wide selection of colors, textures, and patterns, but let’s not forget about the endless possibilities with sign vinyl!

Get Inspired Now:

Create custom signs with affordable craft store finds!

Rustic wood Sign created with FDC Sign Vinyl from Coastal Business Supplies

Blank Canvas Sign with Vinyl - Coastal Business Supplies

Display your favorite quotes in any room with removable wall vinyl.

Removable Wall Vinyl Kitchen Decal - Coastal Business Supplies

SHOP HEAT TRANSFER VINYL NOW

Have more ideas? Show us your creations in the comments below and shop our wide selection of vinyl now!

5 Custom Gifts to Create for Father’s Day

It’s time for Father’s Day, yet another gift-giving holiday full of potential for personalized merchandise to offer your customers. This opens up new sales opportunities and a time to get creative with your products you sell.

We offer a variety of blanks ready to be personalized for your customers. Offer gift packages or sell individual products as stand-alone gifts.
Products Perfect for Fathers

Father's Day Gift Guide - Coastal Business SuppliesFor the Grilling Master

Sell a grilling essentials package including our sublimation apron, pot holder, and  oven mitt. Also, consider using our sign vinyl to customize any set of grilling utensils.

For the Beer Lover

When it comes to products perfect for beer lovers, we offer all the blanks you need. Consider packaging our metal bottle opener with our frosted glass beer stein.

Sublimation Bottle Opener - Coastal Business SuppliesFor Those that Prefer it a Little Stronger

Create custom shot glasses to compliment your customer’s favorite man cave. Sell in sets of four or six to bring in more profit for your business.

For the Golf Lover

Offer custom golf towels, with clever quotes or a message of love from the family.

For the Outdoor Adventurer

Offer your customers what they need to prepare their fathers’ to hit the trail. Create custom water bottles, t-shirts, and hoodie’s to use year round.

For the Lake Lover

Gear your customers up to cool off at the lake, pool or beach with a “Summer Essentials” bundle, including a custom designed towel, koozie, and flip flops.

Create Custom Mugs for Father's Day - Coastal Business SuppliesFor the Coffee Lover

Every father needs the essential “#1 Dad” Mug. Offer these mugs pre-made or promote custom mugs with popular quotes.

Our Favorite Father’s Day Sayings to Use*
Dad:

  • A son’s first hero, a daughter’s first love.
  • The best dads get promoted to grandpa.
  • You’re our favorite (don’t tell mom)
  • Who needs a super hero when you have a dad
  • Yoda best daddy
  • Go ask your mother
  • Father Fuel

*From unknown sources 

How to Create Multi-Colored Shirts with Heat Transfer Vinyl

Getting started with garment decorating can be a headache at first, especially when presented with so many heat transfer options.That’s why we are showing you one of many solutions for creating an intricate design with screen-print softness using heat transfer vinyl on a 100 percent cotton shirt.

Follow along as we show you how to use Xpress Cut heat transfer vinyl, one of our favorite vinyl brands for T-shirts. Xpress Cut is also a great product for new businesses due to its easy weeding capability with a sticky backing. This vinyl can be cut with any cutter but in this case, we are using the Graphtec CE6000 24″ vinyl cutter. Our Graphtec line of cutters are perfect for small and large jobs alike! They are incredibly fast, quiet and easy to set up.

In this tutorial, we are using Graphtec’s Cutting Master 3 plug-in for Adobe Illustrator CC. If you already have your design ready, feel free to skip to step 2!

Step One: preparing the design for cutting

Here we have our finished design in Adobe Illustrator CC. Illustrator is our favorite tool for creating vinyl designs, but Corel Draw and Graphtec Studio are alternatives. We chose to color the design to match the vinyl we are going to use. Doing this can save you headaches when it comes to cutting and applying the vinyl. Now it’s time to send our design to Cutting Master!

Open Cutting Master through Illustrator by going to File and clicking on Cutting Master 3 (or the version of Cutting Master that you have installed). This will open your design in a new program.

The Cutting Master plug-in pulls the design from Illustrator in its original vector format with the separate colors we previously set. The program automatically recognizes that there are two different colors and makes it incredibly easy to toggle between them. Not every program can do this. That’s why we love Cutting Master! Now it’s time to cut!

Tip: Don’t forget to mirror the design (flip horizontally) because heat transfer vinyl is always cut on the back side and later placed upright on the garment. This can be done in Illustrastrator or inside Cutting Master. In Cutting Master 3, go to Page Window and select your Mirror setting from the drop down under the Orientation section.

Step Two: time to cut!

Before sending the design to the vinyl cutter, we need to set the blade depth and speed correctly for this specific vinyl media to get optimal results. We used the following settings for Xpress Cut on Graphtec CE6000:

Speed: 20 cm/s
Depth: 14

Load the vinyl with the back adhesive side (usually the duller matte side) facing up.

Tip: Perform a test cut if your machine allows it prior to sending your design to the cutter. Over time, the cutting blade can dull and the depth setting may have to be increased.

Step Three: weed away

Grab your favorite weeding tool (here’s ours) and weed away the excess vinyl. This stage can be sometimes the most time-consuming part of the process.

Tip: When designing, the more connected your lines are with each other, the easier it will be to weed.

Step Four: Pressing Stage

Xpress Cut is easy to layer and requires little time and low temperature, making it a great heat transfer vinyl to use on cotton, polyester, rayon and other blends. We are placing our design on a dark 100 percent cotton shirt.

We are applying the orange vinyl first because it outlines the entire design and makes it easy for the next layer to line up. Set up the heat press machine to 305 – 310 F° when using 100 percent cotton shirts.

Use the following settings to press the design:

  1. First layer – Three to five seconds with medium pressure, peel hot
  2. Second layer (final layer) – Ten seconds with medium pressure, peel hot

For the best pressing settings for your material, visit our Xpress Cut support page!

Helpful Tip: Use a foam pillow underneath or inside your shirt to raise the transfer area for a smooth, flat surface. Seams, zippers, wrinkles and other imperfections can throw off the pressure and cause the vinyl to peel later on.

Finished!

After pressing the design, wait 24 hours prior to washing. The finished garment is ready to be worn for many years to come!

Order some Xpress Cut vinyl today and start making custom vinyl shirts with screen print-like softness. 

Do you have awesome creations you want to share with us? Use #InspireMeCoastal and tag us (@coastalbusinesssupplies) on Instagram for a chance to be featured on our channel!