The Story Of A Better Tool

Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there lived a young and beautiful stay-at-home mom. She loved to make cards and scrapbook pages and anything with paper. She was very frugal and purchased crafting supplies only when necessary or when they were on sale. Her scrapbook page titles were lovingly cut by hand as she spent nap times creating beautiful documents to record family memories.

Then in the land there came a new kind of machine. One that would cut out letters and shapes quickly, with a tiny little blade instead of scissors! The young mother resisted the urge to purchase this machine. She told herself the hours she spent painstakingly tracing or printing outlines on pattern paper and then cutting individually with scissors was saving her so much money.

Time passed, and the young mother’s family grew, creating more memories to document and less time to spend documenting them.

One day, the fairy-mother-in-law purchased one of these magical machines called the Silhouette machine. She entreated the young mother to learn and use this machine to do the fairy-mother-in-law’s projects. The young mother was happy to do so, and in exchange, she was able to keep the magical machine at her own home and use it for her personal projects as well.

Lo and behold, this magical Silhouette machine not only saved so much time in cutting out shapes and titles, but it did so much more! The young mother found herself creating handmade decorations and gifts of every kind, along with vinyl lettering and ways to embellish clothing and fabric and even backpacks for her children.

As the years passed, opportunities opened up for this mother to join design teams and teach how to use this glorious family of Silhouette machines and software. Not only was the original Silhouette machine a much-used and loved machine, but larger and more elaborate varieties of Silhouette machines joined the family because they became the tools she could not live without.

A Better Tool

Why do I tell you this story? Because it has happened again with a household iron compared to a heat press. Up until a year ago, I used an iron to apply all of my heat transfer designs. I love heat transfer because it’s so easy to cut and weed and apply. An iron works, but it’s not nearly as efficient as a heat press. Which is why I’m comparing it to cutting designs from paper with scissors vs. using a Silhouette machine. There’s a better tool.

I’m so happy to partner with Heat Press Nation to introduce their newest heat press, built for the home crafter, called the Craft Pro heat press. This little beauty is quite the gem. Its 9″ x 13″ size is perfect for the vast majority of designs you would apply to shirts, bags, and other clothing. Unlike an iron, a heat press provides even temperature and pressure across the entire design. No steam holes or missed areas to cause a heat-transfer design to peel up later.

Another nice thing about a heat press? Aside from the initial preheating time (comparable in time to preheating a kitchen oven), it’s much faster than a clothing iron. You can apply a full design in as little as 15 seconds. That same design could take several minutes with an iron. Have you ever made multiple T-shirts at once? I have, and I would have loved to have a heat press for this project that took too many hours to count because I only had an iron.

I don’t fill my blog with pop-up advertisements and sales pitches, but I do promote products and tools that I’ve tried myself and believe in. The Craft Pro heat press is one of those tools I believe in. Just like in my story above, if you are happy saving money by cutting things with scissors or by using your home iron, by all means stick with it. An iron can do a good job with heat transfer if you pay attention to consistent pressure and time.

But if your time is a premium and you find yourself creating heat transfer projects regularly, you might want to consider a heat press.

Basic Steps

Here’s how it works with the Craft Pro heat press.

1. Cut a design from heat transfer material with your digital cutting machine (I recommend the Silhouette Cameo® or the Silhouette Portrait®). I’ll have new detailed instructions for creating and cutting heat transfer designs very soon.
2. Line it up and place it against your shirt or other fabric surface. (You may choose to line it up after the next step if the backing material is not sticky enough to hold it in place.)

3. Pull out the slide-out lower platen of the heat press so it’s easy to work with and so you don’t burn your hands while positioning the shirt and design.

4. Position the shirt so the full design is on the platen but there are no bulky pockets or seams to interfere with even pressure.

5. Cover with a heat-proof sheet.

6. Verify your temperature, time, and pressure are set correctly for the type of heat transfer and fabric you are using, and pull down the handle to lock the press in place.

8. When the heat press beeps, open the press by lifting the handle and then remove the shirt.
9. Peel away the heat transfer liner, and your design stays in place. And yes, you can wash it.

(Design ID #261302 with Metallic Gold Heat Transfer)

Do You Need A Heat Press?

So do you need a heat press? Maybe not. But I’ve used the HPN™ 15″ Signature Series™ heat press since last summer and now the Craft Pro heat press for several projects, and I highly recommend either one. The Craft Pro is the general crafter’s model (a great companion to any model of Silhouette machine), and the Signature Series is a higher-end model that’s beefier and has some more features that are desirable for someone looking to use their heat press in a serious business. Either press gives professional results.

The slide-out lower platen is a key feature you won’t find in most heat presses at the Craft Pro’s price point. You can read more details about this heat press here.

Heat Press Nation has a friendly and highly-competent customer service team, which is one of the reasons customers love buying their heat press from this company. All of my interactions with them have been excellent (they come to the All Things Silhouette Conferences).

Now that I’ve used a heat press, I really never want to go back to applying heat transfer with an iron. It’s a better tool. That’s my story.

This post contains affiliate links. It won’t change your price, but it helps you by getting exactly the product I used, and it helps me by giving me a little commission to help support this blog. Win-win. 🙂