How do I turn a logo into an iron-on vinyl (HTV) cut file for a T-shirt?

Updated on 26 October 2026

Trace the logo in the Homotope workshop with the Black and white preset for a single colour of heat transfer vinyl, download the SVG, free and with no account, or the DXF, then turn on mirroring in your cutter software when you cut: Homotope exports the design the right way round.

JPG · 900 × 640 px

Engine SVG

900 × 640 px noisy compressed JPEG logo and the SVG produced by the engine, Logo preset, “Number of colours” set to 3, untouched: the JPEG noise and blocks are gone, the disc and its ring stay circles and the capitals stay crisp.

×6 detail: the accented E of the wordmark: JPEG noise and blocks, clean SVG edges. Drag the slider to compare; hover over the image or hold your finger on it to move the magnifier.

Try it with your image Open this example in the workshop

Steps

Drop the logo or drawing into the workshop.
Black and white for one vinyl colour; Logo for several, with “Number of colours” set to your number of vinyls.
Keep the “Method” on “Abutting”: each colour as closed shapes that meet.
In Export, enter the “Drawing width (mm)” of the design on the T-shirt, then open “Ready for cutting?” at your blade diameter: it flags strips too thin to survive weeding.
Download the SVG (Cricut Design Space, Silhouette Studio Designer) or the DXF (Silhouette Studio Basic, plotter software: see what Basic Edition opens).

Nothing leaves your computer: see vectorize without uploading.

Mirroring, and what stays with the machine

Iron-on vinyl is usually cut from the back, with the clear carrier sheet down on the mat and the adhesive facing the blade: follow the vinyl’s instructions. So the design must be flipped when you cut, or lettering reads backwards once pressed. That flip happens in the cutter software (a “mirror” option when you prepare the cut); Homotope flips nothing, so you never flip it twice.

The logo’s background is not cut: in the SVG, delete or hide its colour in the cutting software; the DXF leaves it out by default. Pressing temperature, time and pressure come from the vinyl’s instructions: Homotope says nothing about them.

Several colours, printed transfers, batches

With several colours, each colour is a layer to cut and press one after the other. For a printed then cut transfer, the outer outline is what matters: the cut contour, without the holes. For a batch of T-shirts, one file per colour for screen printing. From a phone, the SVG for Design Space; the import is covered in the Cricut guide.

Production exports (DXF, EPS, PDF, separations): 2 free per month with an account, unlimited with Pro; without Pro, 1 credit each beyond those 2. A new account gets unlimited production exports for 7 days, once. The preview and the “Ready for cutting?” check are free; the conversion runs in your browser and the server only counts the export. The details: how much vectorizing costs.

Frequently asked questions

Should I flip the logo in Homotope?

No. Homotope exports the design the right way round; turn on mirroring in your cutter software when you cut the vinyl.

SVG or DXF?

The SVG is free, except transparent background and recolouring (Pro), and opens in Design Space; the DXF, a counted production export, is for Silhouette Studio Basic.

Will small details hold?

“Ready for cutting?” flags, at the real width, details finer than the blade: enlarge the design or thicken the line.

Is my logo uploaded to a server?

No. Tracing runs in your browser; the image only reaches the server if you save it to your account; a DXF is only counted there.

Guides and conversions

Try it with your image