I compared Cricut Infusible Ink on the official Cricut blanks to just regular cotton. I’ll give you my completely honest opinion if it’s worth it.
Wondering how to use infusible ink on coasters or totes? I’ve got a post breaking it down. I also have a post here for how to make a t shirt using iron on. Don’t miss out on ALL my Cricut projects.
Cricut has recently come out with Infusible Inks and I have been playing around with them a bit. I have been super impressed with the professional quality it produced but wondered if there was any way I could use it on some of my own clothes. I’m currently pregnant and my son is a little too small for their smallest tee shirt size right now so I grabbed some of our shirts to see if I could get away with using infusible ink on cotton.
What I used in this Cricut Infusible Ink Project
- Patterned Infusible Ink
- Solid Black Infusible Ink
- Cricut Blank Tee Shirt Women’s Medium
- Cricut Blank Tee Shirt Youth Small
- Plain Cotton Maternity Tee Shirt
- Plain Cotton Toddler Tee Shirt
- Cricut EasyPress 2
- Cricut Maker
- Plain Cardstock
- Butcher Paper (Came in my infusible ink rolls)
- “WOOF DAVID” cut file
- Mickey cut file from this post
First things first, these were 100% cotton. Cricut tee shirt blanks are polyester so that alone may be a big factor!
So my methods: I used the same heat and sheet of infusible ink for both of these comparisons. I tried as best I could to not have any variation. Of course with patterns I can’t get the exact spot of the patterned ink on both shapes.
I heated them at 385 degrees for 40 seconds each with my EasyPress 2
Solid or Patterned Infusible Ink?
One of the first comparisons you will see here is pattern vs solid color. From what I found I will say if you must use cotton, opt for a patterned infusible ink. The imperfections are much less noticeable. The solid color makes it very apparent where it is uneven.
How does cotton take infusible ink?
Infusing the ink seemed to work the same way for both. I tried to see if they looked different before I removed the coverings. See for yourself!
Here’s another bit of imagery to display how much ink was actually infused into the fabric. You can see on the piece I lifted up how much color was left on the sheet versus the shirt. Obviously the Cricut blank took WAY more of the color.
Will my design differ if I use cotton?
The last thing I want to point out is likely the most important point. If you’re doing skinny little things in your design, go for a Cricut blank. Look at how the text warped on my cotton shirt here.
The Cricut Blank just kept my design how it should look as opposed to a more DIY look with letters.
In conclusion, the designs on the cotton still won’t lift and peel off like regular iron on, so that is a win. Especially with my toddler who thinks my iron on is a sticker and pulls at it! This Mickey shirt will last us quite a while. I will also definitely be wearing my maternity shirt because I love my design on it but I WISH I could have the vivid colors the blank created here. Long story short, it’s worth it to buy blanks if you care about a professional level of quality! If you’re just making silly fun shirts you’ll wear once, then sure use your existing cotton shirt!
Never Used Infusible Ink?
Looking for more of a how to with Infusible Ink? I’ve made these projects with tutorials in them.
[…] the best quality transfer when using the Infusible Ink products. I found a great comparison from Practical and Pretty that shows the difference in results between using Cricut brand blank tshirts vs cotton […]