DIY Iron-On Sewing Bins

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Hey guys! Since the Cricut Maker was released, I’ve been wanting to pull my sewing machine back out! It’s been like 9 years since I’ve consistently sewed, so I needed to gather everything I had and get organized! I also took my machine in for a little cleaning and tune-up! While it was gone getting serviced, I put together these fun DIY Iron-On Sewing Bins using the new Easy Press from Cricut!

First up, I headed to the store to look for some bins! I came across these grey fabric bins at Target and fell in love immediately! And once I saw that they were covered in a fabric, I knew that I’d want to iron-on a design to the lids!

I decided on a color palette of navy blue, gold and white.

Then I started designing in Cricut Design Space! You can access the designs here: DIY Fabric Bin Iron-On Designs.

Remember when cutting Heat Transfer Vinyl that you need to MIRROR the image!

You do that after you click MAKE IT. Then you’ll need to click “Mirror” on each of the mat layers.

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Then go ahead and cut the design with your Cricut Explore Air or Maker. Remember when putting the Iron-On Vinyl on the mat, put the SHINY SIDE DOWN! Once all the designs are cut, go ahead and weed all the different designs.

Then get your Cricut Easy Press ready to apply the heat transfer vinyl. 

You guys I am IN LOVE with my Easy Press! It makes applying heat transfer vinyl sooo easy! It comes with a handy little guide the takes all the guess work out of it.

Being that the fabric was Felt like and I was using regular Lite Iron-On Vinyl,  I set my Easy Press for 275 degrees and held it over each layer for 20 seconds. 

After I applied heat over the design, I pulled off the clear sheet to make sure that the Iron-On Vinyl was applied all the way. I then set the plastic film back over the design to protect it from the Easy Press going over the letters as I continued applying heat to the rest of the design with the Easy Press.

Then repeat applying the Easy Press over each of the layers. 

Make sure that there is a plastic film over the designs as you continue to add more layers. You don’t want any direct vinyl exposed. If the Easy Press touches the Heat Transfer Vinyl directly it could melt it.

When it’s all done, remove all the plastic films and viola! Now fill it up with all your sewing goods, threads and more!

For those of you that have tried applying Heat Transfer Vinyl with an iron know that it can be a bit tricky. You need to constantly be moving the iron around and pushing down as hard as you can. And then you’re basically guessing as to how long you need to apply the heat. Then when you finally think you’re finished, you notice that one end of your design is lifting and you have to go back and apply more heat!

So, now let’s talk about why the Cricut Easy Press is so amazing?

First, the heat plate is 9″x9″, so you get a lot more heat surface than you do with a traditional iron.

Also, as you can see below, an iron doesn’t have consistent heat all over the heat plate. There is a 200 degree variance along the heat plate of an iron. With the Easy Press you will only get a 10-20 degree variance. What does that exactly mean? It means you don’t have to move the Easy Press when applying the heat. Just put it over the Heat Transfer Vinyl, apply light pressure and star the timer! 

Speaking of the timer – it’s pretty much the greatest thing ever! By using the Cricut Quick Reference Chart (pictured above in the post), all you have to do is set a temperature and timer and press start! It will beep when the time is up!

You can purchase the Cricut Easy Press at most of your local craft retailers, Amazon or the Cricut Website for $149.99!

 

It’s been so fun firing up the ol’ Bernina! haha! I’ve got a couple sewing projects already started and I can’t wait to show you over the next couple weeks!

The first one will be these fun Halloween Totes! The fabric is from Riley Blake Designs and is seriously sooo fun! I can’t wait to get my hands on their new Blue Caroline line from Christopher Thompson from The Tattooed Quilter!

 

Also, if you missed it, last month I reviewed the new Cricut Maker. In the post I tested out cutting a bunch of different materials and everyone was loving it! So, I figured round 2 would be fun to release this month. Click over to the Cricut Maker post to check out the first video. But, here is the 2nd video!

 

I’m going to be making some Christmas PJ’s in a few weeks and I’ll share more details of the Easy Press in it with a video! So stay tuned!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.