Make This: DIY Tea Towels Using Heat Transfer Vinyl

Looking for a fun way to spruce up your kitchen? Today, I’m sharing a simple tutorial for making DIY Tea Towels using heat transfer vinyl. Read on to learn how to make beautiful DIY Tea Towels for your kitchen.

Spring is finally here, friends! With the long, cold winter we had, I wasn’t sure we would ever thaw out. I am so excited about the warmer weather, blooming flowers, and bright sunny skies. The last few days have been gorgeous. LIKE SUPER GORGEOUS. Fresh cut flowers put a smile on my face.

With the warm weather we had this weekend, I was inspired to clean and organize our kitchen. One of my projects over the long winter was painting our cabinets. The Texan built an island using cabinets that some friends gave us and the butcher block top from our portable kitchen island. Once I painted that dark gray, there was no chance that our kitchen cabinets would remain untouched. They went from a golden oak to crisp white dove on the uppers and dark granite on the lower cabinets. They are even more beautiful now. It’s amazing what fresh paint can do for a room.

After my painting project was complete, I have to confess that I didn’t deep clean the kitchen. I probably should have. But, I kept putting it off. It’s such a daunting task and the miserable weather didn’t motivate me at all. Too many supplies and too much time. At least that is what I thought until I stumbled upon this new Palmolive® Multi Surface. I nearly fell over in the aisle at my neighborhood Walmart.

You can safely use this to clean your dishes AND kitchen surfaces. Palmolive® Multi Surface dish soap kills 99.9% of bacteria* (*staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica and E. coli ((157:H7)) from dishes and hard non porous kitchen surfaces. Hello, Awesomeness. With only one product needed for cleaning, I’m saving time and money! Who doesn’t love that?

Once I finished up the dishes and Spring cleaning my kitchen, I wanted to bring a fun pop of color into the space. I can’t think of a better way to do that than with glitter. Not just any glitter, though. Glitter and Pink Flamingos on Tea Towels.

DIY Tea Towels using heat transfer vinyl

If you’ve never worked with heat transfer vinyl, you are missing out. It’s a unique type of vinyl that can be transferred to tea towels, shirts, canvas bags, and more using the heat from your iron. Fun and simple.

For this project, I used my Silhouette electronic cutter. {If you don’t have one, don’t worry, I’ve included instructions for you at the end!} I found the perfect pink flamingo design in the Silhouette design store. {It’s design #75285.}

Import the design into your software and mirror the image right away. This step is crucial if you have a design with text, but probably not such a big deal if it’s just an image.

Resize the image to your preferred size. I sized mine down slightly so they were six inches tall. The tea towel that I used was 28 X 28 and I didn’t want my pink flamingo too large or too small.

Once your design is the proper size and you’re ready to cut, you need to change the settings to Heat Transfer Vinyl – Flocked. I chose smooth and adjusted my blade to six. The software defaulted to three, but I knew that wouldn’t work. After playing around for a bit, six worked like a charm without cutting through the backing of the vinyl. Keep in mind that every machine is different, yours may not need to be set so high.

I prefer cutting on a mat. For some reason, my machine does a better job with a mat. If you can successfully cut without a mat, go for it! Whether you’re using a mat or not, load the vinyl into the machine with the shiny side down.

Make a test cut. {Trust me! Remember, Heat Transfer Vinyl is pricey!} Then you’re ready to go!

Once the design is cut, remove the unwanted vinyl from around your design. This process is called weeding. I’m much better at weeding vinyl than I am at weeding in the garden. Leave your design on the clear backing {also known as the shiny side}. One of my favorite tools for weeding is a pair of tweezers.

Now for the fun part! Place your design onto your tea towel with the clear backing facing you and the vinyl touching the tea towel.

Put your pressing cloth over the design and press your hot iron down on top of the design with as much force as you can muster for 45 – 60 seconds.

Remove the pressing cloth and slowly peel up the side of the clear backing at a 45 degree angle. If the vinyl does not stay adhered to the fabric, repeat the steps with iron. My pink flamingo’s head didn’t want to stick. For each towel I made, I had to press the head twice!

Tips:
Set your iron to the highest setting possible and ensure it thoroughly preheats.
DO NOT USE STEAM.
No pressing cloth? Use a handkerchief, t-shirt, or another tea towel.

To make this project without an electronic cutter, simply search for the image you’d like to use and print it out onto white paper. Trace the image on the back of the paper using a black permanent marker – this mirrors the image for you. Cut around the image to trim off excess white paper. Tape the design to the shiny side of the heat transfer vinyl and cut it out using an Exact-O knife. Be very careful, those knives are sharp! And they can cut you! Once you have your design cut out, follow the steps above to affix it to the tea towel.

Now, every time I’m cleaning with Palmolive® Multi Surface dish soap, I have cheery pink flamingo tea towels to help make the work load more fun. These tea towels are quick and affordable to make. We have new neighbor’s moving in a few doors down. I’m going to load up a welcome basket for them with tea towels, Palmolive® Multi Surface dish soap, sponges, and everything they need to make a quick pasta dinner their first night at home.

What will you do with the extra time and money you’ve saved by making the switch to Palmolive® Multi Surface dish soap?