Buffalo Plaid Dollar General Totes - Before And After

Supplies:

  • Dollar General Buffalo Plaid Tote $3
  • VLR, or possibly 100% acetone nail polish, or something else that will remove adhesive
  • White HTV - my favorite is Transwonder, 
  • Split Monogram  - I used the free Herina Font and Made My Own
If you just start pulling on the gold buckle, most of it will pull right up. Under the gold is a layer of white batting - most of that will peel right off too.  I was left with just a few spots that I couldn't pull right off.
On these spots, I used VLR.  Rather than apply it as normal, on the back of the fabric, I poured it right on top.
 
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What is VLR?

VLR is a product for removing vinyl adhesive.
VLR is expensive - usually close to $25 a can.  But it will last a VERY long time!  I bough my can over a year ago.  It's the best for removing htv mistakes.  I've used 100% acetone too - and although it did ok, it will sometimes cause the colors to run.  I've done side by side with both VLR & Acetone, and one one project the black vinyl streaked all over the pillow case, ruining it, while the VLR removed it from the top of the same exact pillow case without leaving any marks.  100% acetone may work just as well 90% of the time - I hear a lot of people recommend it, but use it cautiously.  

All of that said, for THIS project, it may work well - as you aren't really removing vinyl, just leftover adhesive.

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Remember that for htv, you mirror your design. I always forget to click the mirror option, so instead, I select all and flip my design horizontally.  

HTV goes on the mat shiny side down.  

There's a step by step for making split monograms here:

Here's a really quick look at the How To:
Essentially - weld a rectangle to the letter, in the middle, then use another rectangle to slice the letter in half.  For this one, I used a rectangle only very slightly larger than the middle of the T.  I did not want lines no top of the whole name, they would be a pain to apply on the raised black surface of the tote.
Top - Herina Font in Design Space
Bottom - Herina font the way it SHOULD look

I used the Herina Font, which is free - but will not look like this if you use it in Design Space.

Design Space cannot read font kerning, so fonts will never space properly and "ligatures" - special combinations like glyphs that happen automatically based on letter combinations - will not appear.
I use the free program, Fontlab Pad. Type your text in any font - you don't even have to install it, it can read from zip files. Then save as an svg and upload to Design Space.

More about Fontlab Pad: 

As always, I used a regular old thrift store iron to apply my htv.  

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Find me On Facebook At Crafting With Fields Of Heather
Where I post LOTS Of Free svgs each day, and more tips and tutorials

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Find more step by step tutorials here:




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