Handmade Gifts
This post is for a dear college friend who lives clear across the country, but is always thinking of us and sending the kindest care packages. We have a whole box of activities and craft projects from the care packages she has sent us (and I have saved for when it’s too hot to do anything outside)! We have been particularly careful with Covid due to my lackluster immune system and our daughter’s young age, so we are not out and about much, which is why she’s always sending us fun things to do. In other words, she is the BEST! I am so grateful for the wonderful people in my life and love being able to make special gifts for them ?
A couple of months ago, she mentioned that her family is going on a big trip to Disneyworld this summer. I immediately offered to make her shirts as a thank you. It took a bit of cajoling, but I finally got her to agree and send me shirt sizes ? She sent me some ideas of shirts she liked and I went from there.
Making the Shirts
I found this adorable Mandalorian Mickey Mouse SVG from Sew What Alicia, which was very similar to a couple of the pictures my friend sent me. Next, I found a Minnie Mouse Bow I could add to the design on the ladies’ shirts from Free SVG Planet. Finally, I downloaded the New Waltograph Font from Fontspace to add “Family Vacay” under the Mickey Mouse and personalize each shirt with the family members’ name on the back of the shirt.
I am a visual person and since I was making several shirts, I decided to cut out the design from regular vinyl first so I had an idea of what the final product would look like and make sure the sizing was right. (Side note – I have had my Cricut for a really long time and was so intimidated by it that after messing up a few vinyl projects way back when, I was too scared to try making more stuff. As most crafty people know, we usually love buying and organizing supplies as much as we like making stuff ? Unfortunately, this means I have tons of old vinyl that I don’t trust to use on projects now out of fear that the stick will fail, so I often use it for practice cuts!)
These shirts all ended up being two layers with black and red vinyl. I grouped and cut by color, and tried to minimize waste by turning the designs every which way on the cutting mats. After a lot of weeding, I was ready to heat press the designs onto the shirt. I bought shirts from Jiffy Shirts (Next Level CVC shirts – thinner cotton and super soft) based on a friend’s recommendation. I also highly recommend it! Jiffy Shirts has tons of affordable options and delivery was very quick.
After making the Harry Potter World Shirts for my sister, I started looking for a different heat press. I love my Easy Press for one off items, but when I am making a lot of shirts, it is hard on my joints. I found an affordable used VIVOHOME 8 in 1 Combo Multifunctional Swing Away Heat Press and it is amazing! It’s much faster than the Easy Press but even better than that (at least for me), I just have to clamp the heat press closed, instead of manually pressing down on each item.
I really enjoyed making these shirts and can’t wait for pictures of my friend’s family wearing them at Disneyworld!
Blooper
Unfortunately, I was trying to get these done while my toddler was painting at her table in my craft room. She was so excited to see the first shirt I made and she grabbed it… leaving some small yellow spots on my friend’s nephew’s shirt ??♀️ I tried washing it but could not quite get the spots out so I made him another shirt. The perils of trying to multitask!
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