It is very popular today to design t-shirts and other clothing with rhinestones. They can be used to make initials or made into words and favorite phrases, and even into pictures. One of the best ways to attach the rhinestones to clothing is with a process called heat transfer. Here we will explain the process of rhinestone heat transfer to make a variety of designs for clothing.
Things Needed For This Project
Among the things that you will need in order to apply rhinestones to clothing using heat transfer include: (1) hot fix rhinestones, (2) tweezers, (3) some tacky tape and (4) the clothing/fabric where the rhinestones will be used on.
Once you have the things that you need you will need a basic understanding of how to put them on the clothing. It’s not as hard as it might sound but it does require some basic instructions.
Follow These Basic Instructions
Decide on the word, phrase or image you wish to design the rhinestones into. You’ll want the height of the letters to be at least three-quarters of an inch. The ideal height of the letters will be 1 inch. When thinking of the image or the words, you’ll need to be aware of the total width that you will generally have when applying them to the piece of clothing. As an example, if you’re going to use a t-shirt then generally you’ll have eight or nine inches width to work with.
Quite often when you’re designing a phrase to be on a shirt, it will require that you use more than one line. Still, this can be attractive. If the phrase is something that’s popular it’s definitely something that will be well-liked. If it’s for yourself, a friend or family member, or even if you’re selling it, you will find that these types of choices are popular.
Choosing The Font For Words
If you’re designing the rhinestones with a word or phrase, you will need to decide on the font you want to use. Some fonts will be far too difficult to use for this type of process. So you will need to be careful not to choose a font that is overly complicated. There are times when it will be necessary to use a graphics program to get the appropriate font size. MS Word has a maximum of 72 and that is usually not enough. For that reason, it’ll be necessary for you to use something like Adobe or Coral.
You’ll be able to print this out and you can do so using cheaper 20 lb paper. But since you’re likely to use a graphics program anyway, you can flip the image which will make it better when you print it than it would printing it out the other way. Having the image right side up means that it’s exactly the way you’ll need it for the project. Doing this part by using the computer will mean that you don’t have to do it once you print it out.
Prepare The Rhinestones
Place the rhinestones in a container. If you’re using more than one color or size or combination then you’ll want to put each color and size and so on in a separate container. You’ll need to prepare the tacky tape by cutting a piece as this is designed for rhinestones with heat transfer. It will need to be about an inch larger in all directions than the image or the phrase. You don’t want to remove the backing before you cut the tacky paper or it’ll just cause a big mess.
Video: How to apply Swarovski Hot Fix Crystals
You’ll then want to take the image or phrase to the surface of the clothing. Take the reversed image and place it on top with a light under it so that you can clearly see the image. Because you’re making the heat transfer upside down using the reversed image is the best method.
At this point, you’ll need to take off the backing of the tacky paper but don’t throw it away. Place the backing in a safe place. The sticky side of the tacky tape will need to face up and over the image and you’ll need to lightly tape it down. You don’t want this to be taped on too well.
Get The Heat Fixed Rhinestones
Using a pair of tweezers you’ll get the rhinestones and place them face down on the tape exactly in the area that you want them to be. For many, it will take several tries to get the rhinestones exactly where they want them. Put a rhinestone in place and then use an iron that’s been heated up on the ‘wool’ selection. With each rhinestone apply the heat from the iron for at least 25 seconds. Then all you need to do is repeat the process until you are done.
Other sources worth checking:
Leave a Reply