DIY Personalized Shirts for Mom with Names!

Make your own DIY personalized shirts for Mom for yourself or the special Mom or friend in your life using a Cricut and iron on vinyl.

Looking for a cute and unique idea for Mom, Grandma, friend or yourself?  Recently I showed you how to make custom glitter tumblers using kid’s handwriting and today I have a perfect shirt for you to make.

Making custom t-shirts is so easy with a Cricut cutting machine and EasyPress.  I whipped up this shirt in less than 15 minutes!

Creating the file in Cricut Design Space is easier than you think.  I have a full video step by step tutorial on how I designed in CDS.

If you’ve ever wondered what all a Cricut can do, make sure to browse my Ultimate Resource of Cricut Ideas.

Materials Needed for Personalized Shirts for Mom

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links from Amazon, CreativeFabrica.com and/or Cricut.com. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my links (purple text).

• shirt – I usually get mine at Walmart
• iron-on vinyl
• Cricut or another cutting machine
• EasyPress or Heat Press or Iron
• EasyPress mat
• a Teflon or protective sheet

Using I Love Glitter Font in Cricut Design Space

I made a full CDS video tutorial of how I designed my shirt since it’s hard to give you the steps in words.  Make sure to watch it with the volume turned on.  (Sometimes the video moves to the top!)

If you need additional help in Design Space, make sure to check out my CDS 101 series with a bunch of videos on using the Cricut software.

You can download I Love Glitter font from dafont.com  for free for only personal use.  If you would like to sell items then you’ll need a commercial use license.  You can purchase the font with a commercial use license from CreativeFabrica.com for about $8.  Just search “I Love Glitter”.

These are the keys that you use for I Love Glitter’s special characters:

• * = small heart.  I added one to each end and then moved them manually.
• [ = left side swish
• ] = right side swish
• | = connecting swish with a solid heart.  On my keyboard, this key is right above my enter key and below the backspace.  It shows two short vertical lines and the black slash on the bottom.  You’ll need to hold the shift key to use the | key.
• _ = connecting swish with an open heart.  It’s the underscore key (next to the 0).  Hold shift to use it.

So, this is what I typed for the text with my kids’ names:

*[Sydnie|Jeffrey|Nathan]*

A fun thing about CDS, is using the templates to see what it will look like.  Click the template icon on the left-hand side. 

I picked a classic t-shirt.  You can change the size and color on the top left drop-down menus.

After you click Make It, make sure to turn on mirror setting in the preview screen.

Place iron-on vinyl with the shiny side down on your mat and cut out with the iron-on setting.

Making Layered Personalized Mom Shirts With an EasyPress 2

Once the iron-on is done cutting, weed off all the extra vinyl.

Turn on the EasyPress to 315F (or you can use a heat press or iron). 

Check out my full EasyPress instructions if you need help with this step.

The first thing you’ll always want to do is press the t-shirt for 5 seconds to get the moisture out.  This helps the iron-on bond better.

To center my designs on a t-shirt, I fold the t-shirt in half and press again so that there is a visible crease down the middle.

Then I fold the largest piece of the iron-on in half to also get a crease down the middle.  Then I just line up the two creases!

Since we are going to be layering the iron on and pressing more than once, there is a different technique.

Make sure you are using the EasyPress on the EasyPress mat or a soft towel, not an ironing board!

Use two hands and most of your body weight on the EasyPress 2 for only 3-5 seconds.  Let the vinyl cool for about 30 seconds and then peel off the plastic backing.  The iron-on is not fully attached but it will be once we press it again with our next layer.

Center the next layer with the names on it.  I had sliced the two out so I knew where it went but you can just fold it in half again to get the middle or measure it.

Place a protective sheet over the iron-on and apply light pressure for 20-25 seconds.  Let it cool for 30 seconds and then remove the plastic.

Flip the shirt over and press the back for 15 seconds.

That’s it!!  Enjoy your new personalized shirts for Mom. If you need an even more detailed process, you can check out my super in-depth tutorial all about making shirts with a Cricut.

Finish off the gift for Mom, with our free birthday cards for Mom printables!

If you’d like to save this tutorial for later, hover over the image below and PIN It now!

Here are some condensed printable directions.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a creative day!