Are you ready for the 4th of July?? Make these American shirts to show your pride for our great country. Grab the FREE Cricut Proud to Be an American SVG cut file and follow the tutorial!
Hi Friends! Summer is here and 4th of July is just around the corner. I love making patriotic shirts for my family since you can really wear them all year long.
I’m making new Proud to Be an American shirts this year and wanted to share them with you along with a free SVG cut file!
I have a few more free 4th of July SVG files over on my baby 4th of July outfit post and God Bless America post. Plus I also made super cute patriotic shoes by painting shoes with chalk paint.
There is no physical item associated with this post, just a digital item to download at the bottom of the post where the instant download link is.
Any Cricut or other SVG vinyl cutting machines like a Silhouette Cameo or Brother would work to cut out these Proud to Be an American SVG files.
If you are still deciding on a Cricut machine, check out my post on which Cricut is right for you (compares the Cricut Maker, Cricut Explore family, and the Cricut Joy).
Materials Needed for DIY Proud to Be an American Shirts
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links from Amazon and/or Expression Vinyl. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my links.
- T-shirts – Next Level is a super comfy brand found here or you can find plain shirts at Walmart or Target
- Cricut or other cutting machine
- Heat Transfer vinyl – Siser Easyweed is my favorite. You can find at Expression Vinyl here or on Amazon here.
- Heat Press (this is the one I use), iron, EasyPress or AutoPress
- Teflon sheet
- Free Proud to be an American SVG cut file – see below
Making American Shirts
Download the Proud to be An American download file (scroll down to get!) and upload to Cricut Design Space.
Cut out heat transfer vinyl on a mat with a Cricut. (If you don’t know what a Cricut is and want to learn all the wonderful things it can do click here!!!) Weed out extra vinyl. For a full tutorial on this part click here.
Preheat your heat press or EasyPress. I heat mine to 305F. Press or iron your t-shirt to get the moisture out.
I like to fold my shirt in half and press it again to get a crease down the middle. Then I fold my bottom vinyl layer in half and match that crease up to the shirt crease to ensure that it is in the middle and straight.
Once the bottom layer is lined up where you want it, press it for about 5-8 seconds (Follow the directions on the iron on vinyl package for using an iron)
When you apply layers of HTV (heat transfer vinyl) the layers will shrink a little bit from the heat. I try to press just as much is needed to transfer the vinyl for the bottom layers (that’s why it’s only 5-8 seconds). Peel off plastic backing.
You don’t want to overlap the plastic backing, so I started laying my other layers that weren’t right next to each other.
I did the blue and bottom red line first. Put a teflon sheet over everything and press again for just a few seconds (5-8 or so).
Peel off the backing again and add two more lines. You’ll notice that the letters are not lining up perfect because of the shrinkage.
Simply cut the plastic backing in between a few of the letters and place them down so they are centered.
Make sure to put the teflon sheet over all vinyl before you press it. Also make sure to remove all plastic backings in between pressings.
The last layer you do (probably the middle one) will be the most off since everything has shrunk. You may need to cut in between every piece and lay them on one at a time.
Once you have everything on, I like to press the whole thing one more time for 20 seconds with a teflon sheet.
This will ensure it’s really on the shirt and melts any lines that were created by the plastic backing.
Now you are all set with your proud to be an American shirts for 4th of July!
You could also make other physical products with the SVG designs such as a vinyl decals for a mug or tumbler, a wooden sign, or decor tiles.
Proud to Be An American SVG File
There is no physical product, only a digital download file of the Proud to Be an American cut files.
As a reminder, all of my FREE SVG files are for personal use only and not for commercial use. Please click here to purchase a commercial license if you want to use the files for commercial purposes such as to sell items for your small business.
Sometimes the file will look blurry when you first open it, but once you download it, the SVG will open up clearly.
If it doesn’t automatically download, you might need to right-click on it and Save As. If you need additional help, make sure to check out my post on how to download and upload files to CDS.
Or check out my Cricut Design Space 101 series for even more tutorials.
Download FREE SVG Cut File by Clicking Here!!!
Or if you want the cut file in other formats, click on zipped file below.
The digital files will download in a zipped folder. There will be two sets of the digital items in four different formats.
Simply extract all the files from the zip file to access the individual file type: SVG file, DXF file, EPS file, JPG format, and PNG file (PNG formats have a transparent background). No PDF files.
These different file types should work in Silhouette Studio, Silhouette Designer Edition, Adobe Illustrator Draw, Sure Cuts a Lot, Corel Draw, and Cricut Design Space.
Cricut Design Space prefers the SVG format. I’ve never used a Silhouette, but I’m told one of these will work as a Silhouette file.
If you want more Independence Day SVG files plus a step by step tutorial on how to make a file in CDS click here!!
Grab a few more digital products of patriotic SVG files here!
If you’d like to save these digital files for later, make sure to PIN it now!
Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
