I Heart Iron-Ons

As you may know, I am a huge fan of making gifts for people. This year was no exception. There were a few different projects this Christmas, so let’s start with the heat transfers, shall we?

For a small fee, you can transform any piece of fabric into a work of art – or a paradigm of humor – using a simple “T-Shirt Transfer”. Available at both stationary stores (like Office Depot, Staples, etc.), general department stores (like Wal-Mart, Zellers, etc.), or craft stores (like Michael’s) you can buy a package of 5-12 for under $20. They come in different varieties even – for light fabrics, for dark fabrics, for stretchy fabrics – and are super simple to use. All you need is an ink-jet printer and computer, a steam-free iron, a hard surface, and a little elbow grease.

Now, each type has slightly different directions, so please, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS! But essentially, all you do is design an image on your computer, print it onto the transfer, trim and place the image on the fabric, then iron it on. If you’re stuck for ideas, I’d suggest taking a stroll through Cafe Press or T-Shirt Hell, or any other “funny t-shirt” site you may find in a Google search.  Here are a few I’ve stumbled across over the year that I made for my t-shirt addicted husband.

My husband is a former English major and constant smart-aleck…

Now, as you can see, these are pretty straight forward and simple. If I’d had more time (and sleep) I could have played with fonts more, or added images and so on…kinda like this shirt that I made for him last year and just reproduced it for him, as it had started to wear out a bit. I pinched the movie still from the web, downloaded a special font (SF Fedora, I think?), and digitally painted some of the photo to get rid of extraneous details, like wires and things, and balance the colours more. (Note: home-made decal tees aren’t quite as durable as professionally made tees. Even with the recipient remembers to gently wash them inside-out in cool water etc., they do tend to either fade or crack sooner than industrially produced products.)

He’s also a bit of a Star Wars and Indiana Jones fan…and geek.

Of course, you are not limited to t-shirts, nor are you limited to a less-than-or-equal-to 8.5″ x 11″ sized image, as you shall see. With some slight overlapping of an image I printed on two “for dark fabrics” transfers, I made this pillowcase for our good friend Rob. Rob is 1/3 of the comedy trio found at The Correctness (my husband being another 1/3), and this particular project speaks directly to one of his particular obsessions. For whatever reason, I have a history of making Rob gifts that are difficult to explain to your average person (like the “Remember: Bitches Be Crazy” needlepoint pillow you can see on the Stitchery post). But I kinda like it that way. 😉

A little something to keep Rob company on those cold winter nights.

I decided to use the “for dark fabrics” decals because they offer much richer colour – which I though would suit the comic book image better – and because they would hide the seam between the two halves better. It may not last as long as if I had used the “for light fabrics” decals (especially with, uh, “vigorous use”), but I’ve kept the image on file and can easily whip up another one if he needs/wants it.

Okay. So, there you have it. Just a couple quick iron-on Christmas projects that I made this year. I also did some sewing, but I think a post on those projects will have to wait a bit as I have yet to mail a couple of them off even… (ooops)

How about you? Do you like to make gifts? And if so, what are your favourites?