DIY Holiday Shirts for the Whole Family

Despite the constant hustle and bustle this time of year brings, I always find myself wanting to make all the things. Please tell me I’m not the only one! Not only are my favorite blogs and Pinterest flooding my feeds with the cutest crafts this time of year, but I grew up with a Mom who made all sorts of fun felt ornaments, stockings, quilts, and homemade gifts…many of which my family still owns and treasures today. Even though the holidays are very much synonymous with crafting for me, I seem to have caught the holiday craft bug extra hard this year, because I can’t stop! I keep coming up with fun ideas that are just too quick and easy not to make. And then the next thing I know, I’ve got the craft room pulled apart, and I am working away until way past my bedtime. Today I want to show you a bunch of different DIY Holiday Shirts I recently made for our family and some friends! Whether you are looking for some last-minute gift ideas, want some matching shirts for your Christmas picture, or have the Christmas crafting bug too, I think you will love these ideas!

This post is sponsored by Craftables. I take great care to only work with companies and brands that are a good fit for me, my home, my blog, and my readers. All opinions are my own.

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A few weeks ago, I shared with you all that I have tended to stay away from a lot of iron-on projects because the cost of heat transfer vinyl is usually too steep to justify using for budget-friendly gifts and projects. But since I discovered Craftables, my new favorite source for standard and heat transfer vinyl, the flood gates have been opened and I just can’t stop making cute iron-on items! Literally…I’ve been walking around my house looking for things to put fun designs on! I am so used to scrimping and saving every last inch of iron-on vinyl I have, but since Craftables heat transfer vinyl is so affordable and comes in handy packs of 5, 10, 25, or 50 sheets, I suddenly feel like I have all the material I need to be as creative as I want!

Shortly after stocking up on a bunch of heat transfer vinyl in holiday colors, I came across this set of Christmas SVG files; and I literally couldn’t wait to get to work. Here are some things to keep in mind if you want to make some DIY Holiday Shirts like the ones shown in this post!

What You Need

• All of my heat transfer vinyl is from Craftables; and I continue to be super impressed with their convenient sizes and high quality vinyl. I stocked up on smooth red, green, black, and brown, as well as Glitter silver, gold, and red for these projects. This combination of colors will allow you to make all the designs seen below, the pillows shown here, and more!
• For iron on projects like these t-shirts, you do need some sort of e-cutter/die cut machine. My preference is a Cricut Explore Air, but you can do these projects with any Cricut or Silhouette-style machine.
• I wish I could say I created these designs myself, but I actually found them all in this super affordable and super adorable pack of images. I honestly want to make something with every single graphic in this set! So many gifts to make…only two weeks left!
• Finally, you need fabric items, such as t-shirts or onesies, to put these designs on. Instead of buying generic shirts from the craft store, I prefer to buy plain t’s from our favorite brands. Basic shirts from Target and Old Navy are still inexpensive, but have a slightly better fit and style than a boxy t! Be sure to wash them before ironing on your designs!

Process Overview

I’ve already taught you everything you need to know for creating projects like these! If you’re just getting started, reference these tutorials first:

• Learn how to upload your own images (like these holiday files) to Cricut Design Space here.
• For t-shirts and other wearables, I recommend using a tape measure on your family member/friend in order to determine exactly what size to make your images.
• Once you’re satisfied with your designs and sizing, learn how to cut, weed, and apply your heat transfer vinyl here!

Elf Family T-Shirts

These are the shirts that started this whole project…I just couldn’t resist making these elf family t-shirts for my little family this year! I can’t wait to pair them with some matching pajama pants for Christmas Eve…although I think they’d be great for family holiday parties or Christmas card pictures too!

To make these shirts, I used a combination of green, red, and yellow smooth heat transfer vinyl. You’ll notice the design kit doesn’t come with a “Little” elf, but I found the Chalkboard Fonts Condensed (in Cricut Design Space) is a very close match, which means you can add in any name, family member or descriptor you want!

Favorite Elf Onesie

Working with heat transfer vinyl really is easy, but I’ve found that glitter heat transfer vinyl is even more forgiving (I’ll have a Glitter Vinyl Tips and Tricks post for you in the New Year!) I love the look of the red and gold glitter combined with the smooth black and green on the onesie below!

You can order Craftables heat transfer vinyl in either 12×9″ or 12×20″ sheets. I’m so used to working with longer lengths of vinyl (that I typically have to trim down), that I was surprised how much I loved the smaller 12×9″ sheets. They are such a great size for shirt-sized projects; these sheets truly make it so convenient to quickly put new colors on your cutting mat and keep going. Although it included four different colors, this design came together in a snap!

He Deer and She Deer T-Shirts

Below I took the same Old Navy long-sleeve t-shirts (stock up when they are on sale or clearance and keep on hand for great last-minute gifts, costumes, or holiday wardrobe!) and transformed them into “his” and “her” deer shirts using two adorable deer designs!

This distressed deer image is perfect for anyone who prefers “cool” Christmas over “cute” Christmas. The brown on a navy shirt is perfect for little boys, and you could easily leave off the red nose for a year-round wearable. Be forwarned with this one, weeding out all those details will take some time and patience!

No, there’s no little girl in this family, but I just couldn’t resist making this adorable deer shirt – that flower crown!

If you look closely at the design, each element is actually very small. So although you need a handful of colors for this one, you only need little bits of each one…which means one sheet of each color would yield you several shirts. If you have a group of girls in your family, how cute would these be with each crown a different glittery color!

I ordered a few sheets of each color heat transfer vinyl to make these t-shirts (and these pillows), and I still have tons leftover (plenty to make even more gifts for neighbors, teachers and friends!) If you are looking for a truly fun, creative, and budget-friendly way to say “Merry Christmas” to friends and family, I can’t recommend these quick and easy projects enough! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my iron! I told you… #makeallthethings!