Custom ‘Girl Gang’ T-shirt Gifts {Tutorial}
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Happy International Women’s Day! I honestly can’t think of a better thing to celebrate 🙂
I don’t know how or when this day of celebration came about, but I’m so glad it did. I don’t remember ever hearing of women being celebrated while I was growing up – especially on an international level – but I come from a long line of very strong, assertive and independent women who have taught me so many of life’s most valuable lessons: not only what it means to be true to myself, find my inner voice and take a stand for what I believe in but to also be quiet once and a while and listen and learn from others with differing view points. Equally as important – I learned a long, long time ago that a solid group of ladies surrounding you, loving you, supporting you and lifting you up is worth its weight in gold.
Even before my daughter was born – back when we first found out we were expected a girl – I started hoarding children’s books with positive messaging for girls. Much to my surprise (and delight!), my son eagerly leafed through their pages, not seeming to notice these books were geared toward girls. In the end, it didn’t matter if the books were written with just boys or just girls in mind. The messages are ones everyone should hear. Here are some of my favorite titles and authors to help your little ones celebrate International Women’s Day:
- Dear Girl by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
- Be Brave Little One by Marianne Richmond
- The Pink Hat by Andrew Joyner
- Mudpuppy’s Little Feminist Board Book Set with illustrations by Lydia Ortiz and words by Emily Kleinman
- All of the Little People, Big Dreams books – especially Marie Curie – by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
- ABC What Can She Be? by Sugar Snap Studio and Jessie Ford
So in honor of International Women’s Day, I made these shirts for the little girls who are already proving to be great influences on my daughter – her little Girl Gang you could say. (And I mean “Girl Gang” in the most positive way imaginable). My hope for my daughter and for all of her little friends is to grow up strong and proud of who they are and what they stand for. A little support and loyalty from each other along the way would be nice too.
What is your biggest hope for your sons and daughters? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!
And if you’d like to make these shirts for the Girl Gang in your life, here’s a quick and easy tutorial to get you started:
Step 1: Gather your supplies
- blank t-shirts or onesies
- Cricut Everyday Iron-on vinyl (or your favorite heat transfer vinyl)
- Cricut EasyPress (or a standard iron)
- Cricut Explore Air 2 and cutting mat
- Weeding tools
- Cricut EasyPress Mat (or thick towel)
- additional fonts* (See step 2)
Step 2: Download fonts & upload them to Cricut
I used fonts called “Eurphorigenic” and “JohnHancockCP” for this project, which are not standard fonts in Design Space. You can get them for free (for personal use) from dafont.com and upload them to Design Space.
*Always double-check the licensing for the fonts you download. I am using these for personal use and will not be selling these shirts for profit. However, there are plenty of completely free fonts on dafont.com.
Download directions:
- Go to Dafont.com and search for the font names or click on the links above. Next, click on the gray “download” buttons to the right of the fonts.
- Once the zip files have downloaded to your computer, open the files and double-click on the TrueType font files to open them.
- Then hit the “install” buttons at the top of the documents.
- Once the install are complete, open Cricut Design Space and select your new fonts from the font drop-down menu. (If you are already working in Design Space, you’ll want to refresh it or log out and back in so you can see the new font selection).
I played around with spacing and capitalization, but ultimately decided on the following arrangement. Once I was happy with the final design, I selected both words and “attached” them together so the Cricut would keep all the letters and words together as it cut them out. The final text block sizings are:
- 5″ wide for the 6-12 month t-shirt
- 6″ wide for the 2T t-shirt
- 7″ wide for the 4T t-shirt
Step 3: Cut, weed & press your design as you would any other HTV project
I would love to see your final t-shirt design! And if you have any book suggestions, I’d love to hear them in the comments below! Happy crafting!
More later, the craft room is calling and I must go…
