This Harry Potter onesie project using heat transfer vinyl (HTV) is sponsored by Expressions Vinyl but all designs and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links. I am over the moon when my love of reading and crafting collide. My friends gave me Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as a birthday gift and began my obsession with Harry Potter. I felt compelled by my love for Harry Potter to participate in the Harry Potter series by Rae Gun Ramblings. One of my favorite Harry Potter quotes is “It matters not what you are born but what you grow to be.” by Dumbledore from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I thought the quote would be perfect on a baby onesie because of the words born and grow. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the post for dozens of vinyl projects ideas with Expressions Vinyl and a giveaway that will make any Harry Potter lover swoon.

I have used HTV for a lot of my Silhouette projects. I was afraid to use HTV at first. Then I discovered how easy it is to use! This Harry Potter onesie tutorial is detailed but the entire process takes about 15 to 20 minutes.

Supplies:

• heat transfer vinyl in black and cardinal
• 0-3 month cotton onesie
• Silhouette Portrait
• Silhouette hook tool
• onesie design file for Silhouette Studio
• scissors
• iron
• ironing board
• piece of cotton fabric (for ironing)

Instructions:

Wash and dry the onesie. I always wash any clothing items before I use them for a craft.

Open the design in Silhouette Studio (SS). I am not sharing my cut file for the Harry Potter onesie because I used a personal use font (Harry P) to create my design. When using heat transfer vinyl, the design cut needs to be a mirror image of how the design will look when adhered. So the first thing to do is to select the entire design, right click and choose Flip Horizontally.

Two different colors of HTV will be cut for this Harry Potter onesie design. You can cut the black and the cardinal HTV how it is laid out in the design but that would leave a lot of blank space. I like to save HTV so I am going to group the design by color. Select the design, right click and choose Ungroup.

Notice how the design on the left is one “group” while the design on the right is six “groups.” Next, use the selection tool to move the different groups by color. Then use the rectangle tool to draw one rectangle around each color group.

Turn on the Portrait and use the load media button to load the black HTV into the Portrait. The shiny plastic side of the HTV is loaded facing down into the machine.

Whatever is on the design page (white area) will be cut so move the cardinal design and rectangular box off the mat. In SS, go to the Silhouette menu and choose Cut Settings…. This brings up the Cut Settings window. Choose the default settings for Heat Transfer Material – Smooth. This will display the blade depth, speed and thickness for the cut. Make sure to change your blade to match the setting of 2. Then hit Send to Silhouette to cut the black HTV.

Hit the unload button underneath the load media button to remove the black HTV from the Portrait. Load the cardinal HTV into the Portrait. Move the black group and rectangle off the design page in SS. Move the cardinal group and rectangle on the design page. Then go to the Silhouette menu and choose Silhouette->Send To Silhouette… to cut the cardinal HTV.

Use scissors to cut the box from two colors of HTV. Then weed or remove the excess HTV that is not part of the design from the plastic backing. The hook tool is great to help remove all the small bits of vinyl. I use it for every vinyl or HTV project.

Here are the weeded pieces. I cut off the extra HTV on the edges after I took the photo.

Iron the onesie. Cut the HTV into strips and lay them out on the onesie. Make sure that none of the HTV or plastic overlaps.

Put a piece of cotton fabric over the HTV and press down hard with a hot iron for 60 seconds. This design is small so it can be covered all at once by the iron but if the design was big, move the iron around until the entire design has been pressed.

Remove the cotton fabric and wait for the plastic to cool. Then start peeling off the plastic from one corner making sure the HTV sticks to the onesie.

If the HTV lifts off, press the plastic back down and repeat the ironing step. Remove all the pieces of plastic for each piece of HTV.

This Harry Potter onesie is ready for a future fan.

Harry Potter Giveaway

Check out all the Harry Potter goodness in this giveaway! Some items in the collage are not the specific prizes but are representative of what can be bought with store credit.

• The September Bookish Box from Appraising Pages
• $20 Amazon.com gift card
• I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good Necklace from Bookish Sphere
• Marauders Map Stacking Mugs from A Bird in the Hand Crafts
• $25 Shop Credit (for in stock items) from Tiny Book Town
• Deathly Hallows Necklace, Personalized Hogwarts Acceptance Letter, and Golden Snitch Ornament (any house colors) from Pieces by Polly
• $40 Shop Credit from Rae Gun
• The August Owl Crate from Owl Crate

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter this giveaway put together by Rae Gun Ramblings.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Vinyl Inspiration Check out these projects ideas that use vinyl from Expressions Vinyl.

I hope you have found my Harry Potter onesie tutorial useful and have been inspired by all the other vinyl projects too. For more project inspiration, check out my other baby onesies, HTV projects, vinyl projects, and book inspired crafts. Happy crafting!