Retro Surfing T-shirt

Spice up a T-shirt with a fun, summery surfing design.

Adding heat transfer vinyl (HTV) to a T-shirt is a great way to uplift your wardrobe and breathe life into plain clothes. This design uses layered HTV to create a summery, vintage surf design.

I’ve also created another surf style T-shirt using vinyl to create a handy ScanNCut cut stencil. You can find that project (and make yourself more summery clothing) here.

Materials needed

• T-shirt  
• Heat transfer vinyl (for fabrics): 
  - Pink – 16cm square 
  - Pale blue – 5 x 30cm 
  - Dark blue – 20cm square 
  - Charcoal – 5 x 10cm 
• Baking paper: 30cm square

Equipment needed 

• Brother ScanNCut 
• Standard tack adhesive mat for ScanNCut 
• Iron 
• Ironing board 
• Spatula 
• Weeding hook tool 
• Scissors 

How to

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

In the cutting settings, make sure that ‘half cut’ is activated, and that the cutting pressure is set to Auto.  

Tip: before you start a new project, always run a test cut to check that the settings you selected on your ScanNCut are suitable for the material you plan to cut. Position the test cut pattern in a position not overlapping the design. Once the test cut has finished, remove the cutting mat from the machine and check that the blade has cut only through the vinyl and not the backing sheet, and that the vinyl peels neatly away from the backing material. If you’re happy with the results, load the mat back into the machine, check that your placement of the design on the material is still good and start cutting your project. If the cutting result is not satisfactory, change the settings and repeat the test cut in a different position. When using different types of vinyl together, you should do a test cut on each of the kinds. If the results differ, you might have to cut the elements from each type of vinyl separately. 

Step 5

Cut all the parts, remove the vinyl from the cutting mat and weed all the parts. 

Step 6

With scissors, cut through the backing sheet to separate each of the individual elements so that they are separate from each other. Note that the palm trees are treated as one element – do not cut through them. 

Step 7

Cut the sun part of the design: select the same cutting file as before and delete all the elements except the sun. The settings remain the same, with the machine set to half cut and the cutting pressure set to auto. 

Step 8 

Stick the pink vinyl onto the cutting mat, with the shiny side facing down. Load the mat into the machine and cut out the sun. Peel it away from the mat and weed using the hook tool.

Step 9

Lay the pieces out and check whether they all fit correctly on top of each other, to match the pattern guide. 

Step 10

It's time to fix on the designs in place! Check the vinyl manufacturer’s instructions for accurate temperature advice. Fuse the first part – the sun. Peel the carrier sheet off. 

Step 11

Lay the next layer – the palm trees and legs – over the sun. Cover with baking paper and press with your iron. Press the iron down onto the fabric with a lot of pressure, to help fix the elements securely. Remove the carrier sheet. Continue to add layers in this sequence, using the pattern guide for placement: 

• Sun 
• Palm trees and the legs 
• Surfboard 
• Surfboard pattern 
• Torso and head 
• Dark blue (shadow) text 
• Light-blue text, slightly offset 

Step 12

Once all the design elements are fixed into place, cover with a sheet of baking paper and press all over once more to make sure all elements are adhered well.

Your T-shirt is ready for a trip to the beach! Make sure to post your finished shirts on social media so we can see what you’ve created. 

I can’t wait to see what you make! Remember to tag in Brother on Instagram and Facebook, and myself too!