How to Layer Cricut Iron On Vinyl

Have you ever wanted to learn how to layer Cricut Iron-on vinyl but thought it was too intimidating? With our easy-to-follow guide, you'll learn how to layer vinyl in no time. Cricut's Iron-on vinyl is simply Heat Transfer Vinyl. The carrier sheets are very forgiving, allowing you to reposition your design elements without any issues. So, you can take your time aligning everything perfectly!

If you prefer a visual guide, Crystal has created a video with everything you need to know about layering.

Cricut Iron-on vinyl comes in a great selection of colors including glitter vinyl. You can mix and match as long as you follow the correct heating guidelines. In today's tutorial you can create a motivational tote bag with us in only 2 steps and get your crafting on. You'll be amazed at how easy it is to make this gorgeous bag!

Materials Needed for this Project

Design - Sunflower SVG Bundle, get this design and more with a massive discount of 93% in The Mega Monogram Bundle. Available for a limited time only!

Cricut cutting machine - a Cricut Maker or Cricut Explore, you can layer designs with your Cricut Joy as long as the design fits onto the cutting mat

Fine Point Blade

Cricut Iron-on vinyl - for this tutorial we will be using Cricut Iron-on Glitter Black, Cricut Everyday Iron-on yellow and white, but you can also use the Iron-on Smart materials

Green Standard Grip Mat

Cotton Tote bag or any bag of your choice as long as it can withstand the heat and not melt

Weeding Tools

Heat press or Cricut EasyPress - you could try using an iron but you will need to set the heat to Cotton/Linen and use a good amount of pressure

Parchment paper or Teflon sheet to protect your machine when pressing a second time

Lint roller

Cricut Iron-on vinyl is exactly the same as Heat Transfer Vinyl. So, if you have already worked with HTV, you are half-way there! If your vinyl is not cutting correctly, it may be time to change your Cricut blade or clean your mat.

Step 1 - Cut the Layered SVG in Cricut Design Space

You can upload your purchased design or even create your own layered design in Cricut Design Space. When uploading, choose the SVG design to make the process a lot easier.

After you have added the design to your canvas, measure out the area of your bag where you want to place the design. Then, adjust the sizing according to your bag measurements.

We adjusted the size on the longest side for our bag. You can click + drag on a corner handle to resize or input the measurements in the Width and Height sizing box on the top toolbar. Remember to keep the sizing locked (closed Lock icon) in order to keep the ratio consistent.

You don’t need to attach the pieces as we will manually be pressing each layer. Click on the Make It button in the top-right corner of the screen, and then choose your mat size.

You can leave out the white areas of the design if you are using a white bag. We opted to cut these pieces specifically for this tutorial.

Make sure to turn on the Mirror option under each mat setting on the left-hand side. This is extremely important as Cricut Iron-on vinyl is cutglossy side or carrier side down, but pressed carrier side up.

Next, click on Continue on the bottom right corner.

Select your machine if asked by Design Space and you will then be taken to the Material settings page.

For this project, Design Space has decided to cut the matte white Iron-on vinyl first. So, click on Browse All Materials and scroll down to the Iron-on section. Select the Everyday Iron-on vinyl from the material options.

Follow the on-screen instructions and place your vinyl on the mat, load it into the machine and check that the Fine Point Blade has been inserted into the right-side carriage. Once all of this has been done, Design Space will tell you to click on the “C” icon or press the button on your machine to begin cutting.

After cutting has completed, DON’T unload the mat just yet. Use a craft knife to gently lift up an area of the design and check you have a clean cut. If it hasn’t cut properly you can press the “C” button on your machine to cut again. If you unload the mat, the second cut won't be in exactly the same place and will ruin your material.

After cutting has been completed, unload the mat and then remove the vinyl. Cricut will guide you step by step and tell you to load the next piece of vinyl, which, in this case, is the Glitter Iron-on. Click back on the Material type and change the setting to Glitter Iron-on.

Follow the instructions and proceed to cut. Double check that the vinyl has cut cleanly before unloading. Repeat the process with the third mat, but remember to change the Material back to Everyday Iron-on.

Step 2 - Press the Cricut Iron-on vinyl

Now comes the fun part as we put everything together. Weed out the excess Iron-on vinyl from the carrier sheet and separate the two glitter designs as these will be pressed separately.

We are going to heat press the Cricut Glitter Iron-on wording first. Once we have added the sunflower we will then add the second piece of glitter vinyl. If you are comfortable with heat pressing the second glitter piece in place at the same time as the wording, you can go ahead and do that. If not, just carry on to follow our steps to get a perfect result.

Cricut Glitter Iron-on Vinyl requires a higher heat than the white and yellow vinyl. You can use the Cricut Heat Guide to get an idea of the temperature, pressure and time.

Press the tote bag for a few seconds to remove any moisture and smooth out wrinkles. Move the tote bag to one side and position the glitter black wording with the sunflower so everything is centered nicely on the tote bag. You don’t need to worry about the carrier sheets sticking to each other.

When your heat press is ready, put the sunflower layer aside and position the tote bag with the wording on the press. Next, heat press the first layer of the Cricut Iron-on vinyl.

When layering a design, it's best to work away from the press so you don't burn yourself. Line up the sunflower yellow Iron-on vinyl with the glitter wording. Reposition if needed and then press down so the carrier adheres temporarily to the tote bag.

This time, when heat pressing, use parchment paper or a Teflon sheet as the top layer to protect the glitter vinyl and your heat press or EasyPress.

Position and then heat press the second piece of glitter vinyl. Don’t forget to adjust the heat and time as needed.

Once done, line up the white piece of vinyl with the second glitter piece. Change the pressure and heat for the Everyday white Iron-on. Place the parchment paper over everything and heat press. Remove the carrier sheet, place the parchment over the design and heat press one last time.

Here is the final result of layering Cricut Iron-on vinyl! We just love how this beautiful design turned out. It's a cheerful bag that can be filled with books, or even more crafts!

We hope that this tutorial on how to iron on Cricut vinyl has shown you just how easy it is to layer a design. The carrier sheets are very forgiving and allow you to reposition the separate layers until you are happy with the layout. Feel inspired to create more and explore the various creative possibilities on Design Bundles.