I love using my Cricut to make shirts with vinyl. But some projects call for a different kind of look.
That’s why I tried out the screen printing method. And after a few tries, I’m hooked!
Here’s a simple how-to and a few things I learned along the way.
This post contains affiliate links, which allow me to receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, if you make a purchase. All opinions are authentic and my own.
What you’ll need to get started:
3- Squeegee
With the exception of the painters tape, the links above will take you to all the same products that I used.
I didn’t have any painters tape so I improvised with duct tape. It worked fine.
Cutting your design
You can cut your design on a couple of different materials. I cut my first design on white ‘sticky’ vinyl like you would any other vinyl project, with no mirroring.
I cut my second design on the leftover backing of the vinyl I used for the first design.
Some people use parchment paper.
Use whatever works for you… but I found different types of material should be used in different ways with your screen print frame. More about that a bit later.
Weeding your design
You have to weed your design the opposite way you would usually weed vinyl.
You need to weed out everything you want to see in the ink.
Putting your design on the screen print frame
If you’re using regular ‘sticky’ vinyl, the best way I found to put your design on the screen print frame is to do it like you would any vinyl design… by using transfer tape to adhere the design onto the inside of the frame.
You also want to border it with something like painters tape. As I mentioned above, I didn’t have any painters tape so I used duct tape. Whatever you use, be sure to tape all around the image so that you don’t get any ink on the shirt outside the design.
You’ll see the other method I used to put the design on the frame when I used the vinyl paper backing a little later in this post.
Inking your design
Start by pouring some ink at the top of your design on top of the tape then pull the ink down with the squeegee to cover the entire design.
A little bit of ink goes a long way. If you have some left over, scrape it off and put it back into the jar.
Completing your design
Carefully pull off the screen print frame and admire your masterpiece, then let it dry for a while. I let mine dry for several hours or a whole day.
Once it’s fully dry you need to heat the ink to set it into the fabric. I pressed my shirts on my heat press for 20-30 seconds at 300 degrees.
You’ll also want to rinse your screen print frame and squeegee. I rinsed mine right after I inked each design and the screen came clean really quickly and easily.
My first shirt was by no means perfect. But I liked the rustic, imperfect quality of it. I mean, it is from a vintage movie after all.
Reusing your design
Always wanting to stretch resources as much as possible, I learned you can definitely re-use the design before taking it off your frame. After rinsing the frame, I just reapplied ink to another shirt.
This is a great option if you want to do the same shirts for a group of people.
Using different material
As I mentioned above, for my second design I used the backing from the vinyl that I had left over from the first design. I cut it on the cardstock setting. But since the backing isn’t sticky I couldn’t stick it to the frame. And without it sticking, I didn’t think there would be any way I could keep it from pulling up the design. So I placed the design right onto the shirt and put the screen print frame on top of the design.
I was also kinda lazy and didn’t border the design with tape so I had to be super-duper careful not to get any ink on the shirt outside the design. Thankfully, I didn’t.
It turns out, I actually liked this method better. With the design on the other side of the frame, I didn’t have to worry about pieces of the design coming up or scraped by the squeegee.
What I learned
- You need to work on a completely flat surface. An uneven surface could cause ink to be applied too light in some places or not show up at all.
- A little ink goes a long way. Start with a small amount and apply more if needed. And put the excess ink back in the jar, it will last you through several projects.
- Pull the ink down with the squeegee slowly. If you go too fast you might scrape up small pieces of your design, which results in getting ink where you don’t want it.
- You need to apply somewhat strong pressure when filling in your design with ink. If your touch is too light, you won’t get enough ink through the screen and onto your fabric.
- Make sure the ink is distributed across the whole design equally or you will see variations in the ink in the final design where it is thicker in some places and thinner in other places.
- Make sure you have the design covered with ink the way you want it before you pull up your screen. If you try to put your screen back down for a second application of ink, it won’t match up exactly, making your final design look a little funky.
Experiment • Have Fun • Good Luck!
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I love this and your designs!! They look fantastic. Did you just use shirts from anywhere?
Thank you so much!
For these designs, I used a couple of t-shirts I got at Walmart. They often have solid color, comfy shirts for about $5. But yes, you can pretty much use any type of shirt.
Other sources I like for blank shirts are JiffyShirts.com and HappyCrafters.com.
This looks so fun! How did you get the boat sails and centers of letters to stay put on the non sticky version?
Thanks! And great question! Since the boat sails and the center of the ‘Os’ weren’t connected to the rest of the design I had to place them onto the shirt separately in the position they needed to be before placing the screen on top of the design. Luckily for this design, there weren’t a lot of small pieces like that. But for a project with lots of small, unconnected pieces, it’s probably best to go with the sticky version. I hope that answers your question. Thanks for your interest! -Tracy
Can you explain the heat press. Did you apply it directly to the screen? Did paint get all over your press?
After the screen printing process, you need to let your shirt fully dry. I let mine dry for several hours or sometimes a whole day. Then press the shirt in your heat press with a silicone sheet on top of the shirt. Therefore, your press doesn’t actually come in contact with any ink. I hope that answers your question. Thanks for your interest! -Tracy
Can you use an iron or does it have to be a heat press?
Love your design!
Thank you so much!! Yes, you can use an iron. Heat presses are best if you’re selling your shirts because they have more heat consistency. But I only used an iron for a while before I got my press and it does the job. š
How do it iron it? From the backside? I assume you dont put the iron directly on the image….
You first need to let the ink fully dry for several hours or a whole day. Then when using a heat press or an iron, you need to put a teflon sheet between the heat and the image. Heat presses come with a sheet, or you can buy them here (affil link): https://amzn.to/2DbePvB -Tracy
Looks great would love to try this. Since you said you liked the one with the design between the screen and the shirt, could you mirror the design and put it on the front of the screen? That way you wouldn’t have to handplace the pieces not connected.
The screen is made in such a way that you can only put it on one side of it for it to lay flat. If you don’t want to deal with hand placing the small pieces, I would recommend doing the first option I show in this tutorial, using adhesive vinyl and transfer paper. Both options work. I hope this answers your question! -Tracy
great —can you use any fabric paints
I can’t be sure, because I’ve only used screen printing ink. But from what I’ve read online, apparently screen printing ink is used for more consistency and quality because it sets into the fabric instead of just drying on top of it like fabric paint. So screen printing ink is supposed to last on your shirt longer. Hope that helps!
thank you
Great tutorial! Cannot wait to try this!
Yay! Thanks so much! Good luck!!
Any tips on getting the vinyl to stick to the screen? I can’t ever get mine to transfer from the transfer paper onto the screen.
I didn’t have problems getting mine to stick. Perhaps it’s the transfer paper you’re using. I get very frustrated with Cricut brand transfer paper because it also prevents my vinyl from sticking on my project and pulls it up. I used this brand and it worked great with this project: (affil link) https://amzn.to/2q2vGrT I hope that helps! -Tracy
How do you get the vinyl to stick to the screen with the transfer paper? Mine will stick to the paper and not adhere to the screen. So frustrating!
Perhaps itās the transfer paper youāre using. I get very frustrated with Cricut brand transfer paper because it also prevents my vinyl from sticking on my project and pulls it up. I used this brand and it worked great with this project: (affil link) https://amzn.to/2q2vGrT And here is the screen I used: (affil link) https://amzn.to/2Ex6hAE I hope that helps! -Tracy
Could you put the sticky vinyl on the shirt and then the screen on top (a combo of the methods)?
I would think so. It’s a lot like the second method I showed with the Amity Island shirt when I put a cut-out stencil on the shirt, then the screen on top of that. Although I have never put sticky vinyl on fabric, so I’m not sure if that would be difficult to pull up when you’re finished with the ink. Let me know if you try it and how it goes! -Tracy
I’m assuming that if you use the 2nd method, it would only be good for one application..? Is the paper really messy to pull up with wet paint on it? Thanks for the tutorial. I have been really looking into screen printing recently.
That’s a great question. When I did the second method, luckily the design stuck to the frame and not the shirt. So there were no concerns with the shirt. And I did not try to re-use that design, but I would imagine you could just rinse the frame along with the design and use it again. It would probably depend on how intricate your design is. I hope that helps. I’d love to hear how it goes if you try it! -Tracy
This may be a dumb question but which end of the squeegie do you use? the flat hard plastic side or the felt side? i’m reading different tutorials online and many think the felt is super helpful but i can’t see how that would help with screen printing? The pictures look like you use the hard plastic side…
what am i missing?
I always use the hard plastic side. I found that it’s better for applying the best pressure to push the ink into the shirt. When you don’t press firmly, the ink might not spread as evenly. That said, some people may want their ink to spread a little differently for a different look. Hope that helps! – Tracy
Thank you for the Inspiration! Did you have to put anything inside the shirt–or does it not bleed through?
Also–would it work to flip the design, use sticky vinyl, and stick it to the back side of the screen, so the design was between the screen and shirt?
I’m doing several shirts and want to re-use the stencil…thank you again!!
Hi! I did not put anything inside my shirts before applying the ink and it was fine. But I suppose if you are making a design with a lot of ink it would not be a bad idea to put some sort of cloth in between the layers of your shirt. As for using a reversed sticky vinyl on the backside of the screen, I think that makes a lot of sense. And you should be able to rinse it and reuse. Let me know how it works out! -Tracy
Oh my goodness! Such a good article, I learned soooooo much. And I love the way you listed the supplies with pictures, price and BUY NOW or site. Plus the way you bullet “WHAT I LEARNED” makes it easy for me to refer back. I’m looking forward to reading and learning from your other articles. Good job. BTW, do you sell your designs?
Thanks so much for the kind words! I’m so glad you found this post helpful. I do sell a few of my designs and hope to do more in the future. You can see my available SVGs here: https://frugalfloridamom.com/category/printables/ -Tracy
I’m attempting my first screen print soon and your tutorial is so helpful! I was wondering if you have ever done a front and back design on a shirt before…and if so, does pressing the 2nd design affect the design on the other side of the shirt?
I have not done a front and back design before. But my advice would be to do one side completely, including the screen-printing, drying and pressing, then do the other side. The whole process will take you a few days, but I think you’d have much less risk of mistakenly messing up the other side. Good luck! I’d love to hear how it turns out! -Tracy
Hello, I used to screen print. I did it for about 6 years. I loved it. Seeing this makes me wanna do it again. Just curious, what do you use to rinse your screen and squeegee? Thank you!!
I rinse everything in the sink with tap water between each project. I rinse it soon after to avoid drying. It seems to works well! -Tracy
Dumb question here- does that mean you can reuse the screen? I was wondering and assumed that you couldn’t
Yes! I reused the screen several times. I rinsed it really well between uses and had no problems. -Tracy
Thanks for this! Can you tell me why I would use the screen instead of just using a stencil and dabbing the ink/paint? Just wondering why using the extra steps and things to wash, lol
Thanks for your interest in my post! Interesting question! I think you could definitely do it that way and if you do, I would love to hear how it turns out. My only concern would be that the ink would not be distributed as deeply or evenly into the fabric. By using the squeegee, you’re able to push the ink into the fabric in a smooth and uniform way while applying pressure. Good luck! -Tracy
Hi! What did you use to clean your screen before doing the second print?
Just water! And everything came off clean. -Tracy
If you plan on using the screen over and over could you use iron on vinyl on the actual screen to ensure that nothing lifts off or moves while you are printing? I canāt wait to try this project they look great!!!
Thanks for your kind words and interest! I’m not sure about ironing a design onto the screen. I would worry that htv would not properly adhere to the screen or that heat might damage or melt it. Another option is to flip your design (to cut it reversed) on adhesive vinyl and adhere to the backside of the screen. That way, it’s secure to the frame and you don’t need to worry about the squeegee pulling up the small pieces. I hope that makes sense. Good luck! I’d love to hear about how your projects turn out. -Tracy
I just purchased these designs and when I download them into my design space are they the same size that you used or so I have to resize them?
Youāll want to adjust them to the size thatās best for your shirt. -Tracy
I do this method a lot. Here are a few other tips for you!!
-Use Oracle 651 permanent vinyl
– add a little heat to get the bubbles or wrinkles out of the vinyl and to get better adherence. I put an iron on the board and get it nice and warm and then put the frame with the vinyl on it on top of the heated surface, works like a charm
– Use a hair dryer on the wet paint to get it to dry faster.
– Let the vinyl cure on the frame for a couple of days before using paint on it
These are all great tips. Thanks so much!
Loved this idea so I tried it…now I never use HTV. Thanks! I do it on the cheap…I cut my design on freezer paper ($3.50 a roll) shiny side down, then iron it on to the fabric to avoid ink getting outside my design (shiny side down) and put the screen on top like your second method. I too use the hair dryer to initially dry then for good measure do the heat press.
Thanks again!
I Love It!! So glad you found a method that works great for you. And I love how you do it on the cheap! Nice! -Tracy
I followed your instructions and did my first screen printing and it worked so well!!!! I did it with vinyl which is a lot of work so my next time is to try the backing like you did. But I absolutely love this. Thank you so much!
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that your project went well and that this was helpful. -Tracy
Hello,
Really thanks you for this tutorial ! š
I will start the screen printing with this method and i just have one question please
How many shirts can we make with one stencil?
And am i obliged to make all my series of shirt in one time? Or can i make only two prints, then wash my screen (without take off the stencil), store it, and re-use it couple of days later?
I think the number of shirts you can make at one time really depends on how well your stencil holds up and adheres to your screen. I would not advise leaving the stencil on and using it days later. I would be worried some ink might get trapped in the stencil and stain your screen. But this is just an educated guess, as I have not tried doing that myself. Good luck! -Tracy
Really thank you for the reply! š
Do you need to do emulsification for the screen prior to the design? I am working on a design for shirts for a group of people.
No. I have never used emulsification for this type of process. -Tracy
Just AWESOME! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much! I’m glad it was useful. -Tracy
How would you use this method for multiple colors?
Great question. That is not something I have tried, but I think it could work. You’d just have to make sure the shirt fully dries and the screen is fully washed and rinsed before attempting a second color.
Could you do either of these on wood?
I have not personally tried screen printing ink on wood. I do not know how well it holds up. I have used other paint on wood with good results.
Ok could I use card stock instead of vinyl
I have not used it myself, but I don’t see why you couldn’t. There would just be a risk that the ink might smear if the paper shifts at all on the shirt. But as long as you press the screen over the cardstock template firmly throughout the process and pull it off carefully, it’s definitely worth a try! -Tracy