DIY Fall Pillows With Heat Transfer Vinyl and Free Cut Files -

I’m so excited to share these DIY Fall Pillows with you today! Now that my boys are back in school and the days getting shorter, it’s beginning to feel like fall. I can’t wait for warm apple cider, cozy sweatshirts, hot chocolate, football games and bonfires! Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year! It always has been.

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For my fall decor, I’m trying to bring in more colors from nature. I love the golden colors of wheat, dried corn stalks and fallen leaves. I used these as my inspiration for these gold pumpkin and autumn pillow covers.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS PROJECT

DOWNLOAD THE DESIGN

I created these beautiful pumpkin and autumn designs in Photoshop. It has taken me about a year to learn the technical skills to design these files. But, I am so excited that I can take my creative ideas and turn them into digital files to share.

They are available for free to my newsletter subscribers in my PRINTABLES & CUT FILES TAB. If you would like access to the library, just subscribe in the sidebar or at the bottom of this post. You will be sent a welcome letter with the password to access the library. Then you can download any of the files you would like. These two files are saved in JPEG format for use with Cricut and Silhouette.

CUTTING MACHINE SETTINGS

I used a Silhouette Cameo to cut my vinyl. So the cut settings are for that machine.

You can cut vinyl without a cutting mat on the Silhouette, but unless I’m cutting a very long design, I usually put the vinyl on the mat. Be sure your white rollers are properly spaced out to grab the size paper you are working with. Put your vinyl on the mat and line it up along the blue line with arrows on the left side of your machine. Then press load mat on the touchscreen. Once the mat is loaded, use the arrow keys on the touch screen to line up your blade with the corner of the vinyl.

Next, go into your design software and change your material to Heat Transfer, Metallic. Then adjust your blade to the proper depth manually. All machines are a little different. On my machine, I changed all my settings. I cut my Heat Transfer Material with a blade depth of 1, Speed 10, Force 7, and Pass 1.

Your machine may be different and it’s very important to do a test cut before you begin. This will keep you from wasting your vinyl. When your test cut is done, unload the mat and try to remove the vinyl from the square, around the triangle.

It is very difficult to tell the front from the backside on this vinyl. The test cut helps you know your vinyl is in the right direction. If the test cut is good, load your vinyl back into the machine, position your blade, and cut your project.

If you are printing text, be sure to flip or mirror your image!

Using your weeding kit, weed your project. This just means you are removing the extra vinyl.

HEAT TRANSFER TIPS

There are some things that can go wrong with the heat transfer process. It’s important to read the instructions and gain an understanding of the process. Always practice on a scrap piece of fabric before you begin your project.

It is recommended that you wash and dry your fabric without fabric softener before doing heat transfer.

I have used a regular iron with a board many times to do heat transfer. But, it does take more patience and time to get the job done. I usually need to go over my project a few times with heat. Never heat the fabric for too long in one area. Hold it for 30 seconds and then move to a new area. I check the vinyl and if it doesn’t look like it attached to the fabric, I go over it again after it has cooled.

You have more control over your time and heat settings with an easy press. It takes the guess work out of heat transfer.

To find the center of your pillow cover fold the pillow cover in half each way. Then use your fold lines to position the transfer. I used a ruler and kept equal distance around the edge of my transfer.

HEAT TRANSFER PROCESS

Place a board or Easy Press Mat under your fabric (inside the pillow cover) I put the zipper opening at the bottom of the pillow.
Preheat your fabric for 5-10 seconds
Position your transfer face down (liner side up)
Place parchment paper over your transfer
With your iron on high heat press in one area of the design for 30 seconds. Don’t move the iron around. Just press with medium pressure in one area for 30 seconds. Be sure to use a timer.
Move to the next area and repeat until you have heated the whole transfer. My iron is old and doesn’t get as hot as it should, so I had to repeat this process a few times to get the transfer to attach to the pillow cover. If you have a new iron or an easy press, it will probably work the first time.
When done, iron the backside of the fabric for 25 – 30 seconds.
Always keep parchment paper over the design when applying heat. The directions say you don’t have to, but I see it as added protection.
Peel the carrier sheet off when the transfer is warm to the touch (not hot).
Once the carrier sheet is removed, I cover the whole image with parchment paper and heat it for 15 more seconds. Never let your iron come into direct contact with the image. It will smear the image.

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