Copyright Silhouette School 2016. Powered by Blogger.


Heat Transfer Vinyl Remover for Lights and Darks: Review

Did you ever need to remove heat transfer vinyl from a shirt?

heat transfer vinyl remover, remove heat transfer vinyl, remove htv, htv mistake

There are several different ways to remove heat transfer vinyl - some use actual heat while other use a solvent.
I've tested various methods and products - but the one thing that always seems to happen is the adhesive from the HTV is left behind.

I recently came across the AlbaChem No. 1020 Removing Solvent so I decided to give it a try.  If it's sold at at Swing Design you can also check Amazon!

heat transfer vinyl remover , remove heat transfer vinyl , how to remove heat transfer vinyl from shirt, vinyl remover  heat remover remove heat transfer vinyl how to remove heat transfer vinyl from shirt how to remove t shirt vinyl

To use this chemical heat transfer vinyl remover you'll first need to puncture the top, making a small hole.


You really want to make it as small as possible because that will allow you to have greater control of how much HTV remover comes out and where it goes.

heat transfer vinyl remover , remove heat transfer vinyl , how to remove heat transfer vinyl from shirt, vinyl remover  heat remover remove heat transfer vinyl, how to remove heat transfer vinyl from shirt, how to remove t shirt vinyl

Heat Transfer Vinyl Remover on Lights

To use this HTV vinyl remover you want to flip your garment inside out and apply it from the back side. After the entire back side of the heat transfer vinyl design is covered in the remover, give it about a minute to work.

heat transfer vinyl remover , remove heat transfer vinyl , how to remove heat transfer vinyl from shirt, vinyl remover  heat remover remove heat transfer vinyl,

Flip the shirt right side out and use a pair of tweezers or a hook to lift a corner or edge of the HTV. Once you get it going, the entire design should easily peel away.  As you can see from this quick video I was easily able to remove the heat transfer vinyl design in about 90 seconds.



The question I'm always asked is - does the HTV remover take off the adhesive too? On a white shirt it's hard to see the adhesive which is good and bad.  It's bad because it doesn't look like there's adhesive there, but if you don't get it all off it will show after you wash it. So, you want to apply more of the heat transfer vinyl remover to the front of the shirt and then use a white rag to gently rub away the adhesive.

How to remove HTV from a shirt, remove htv, remove heat transfer, Silhouette Heat Transfer Vinyl, Heat Transfer Vinyl Silhouette,  heat transfer vinyl, gold heat transfer vinyl, HTV vinyl, vinyl heat transfer, HTV, HTV Vinyl,

You can see it did a great job on this shirt. Usually you'll just have a small area that needs to be removed - but even on this large design it took off everything.  And keep in mind because the hole I punctured was so small I was really able to control where the remover went and it didn't take off the HTV in the areas that I did not want to remove.

I was able to apply a new piece of HTV on this shirt and then wash it. But when it came out of the washer there was a faint line where the original piece of HTV had been - like the color from that HTV had bled through.  This is probably the biggest con when removing HTV from white shirts.  If it's a small area it would likely not be a big deal, but just be aware that thish can happen on white shirts.

Heat Transfer Vinyl Remover on Dark Shirts

With heat transfer vinyl designs on dark colored shirts, it's far easier to see the adhesive that's left behind.

You can see that after the HTV was removed from this dark gray shirt, the adhesive was clearly left behind.

Silhouette Heat Transfer Vinyl, Heat Transfer Vinyl Silhouette,  heat transfer vinyl, gold heat transfer vinyl, HTV vinyl, vinyl heat transfer, HTV, HTV Vinyl,

Again, I poured some vinyl remover directly onto the adhesive from the front and used a rag to remove as much as possible.  I let the shirt dry, but could still see some of the adhesive.

Silhouette Heat Transfer Vinyl, Heat Transfer Vinyl Silhouette,  heat transfer vinyl, gold heat transfer vinyl, HTV vinyl, vinyl heat transfer, HTV, HTV Vinyl,
 
This process was repeated two more times...


....until the heat transfer vinyl and adhesive was completely removed from the shirt.
  
Silhouette Heat Transfer Vinyl, Heat Transfer Vinyl Silhouette,  heat transfer vinyl, gold heat transfer vinyl, HTV vinyl, vinyl heat transfer, HTV, HTV Vinyl,

I added a new piece of heat transfer vinyl in the same area.  It adhered just like normal and washed perfectly!

Silhouette Heat Transfer Vinyl, Heat Transfer Vinyl Silhouette,  heat transfer vinyl, gold heat transfer vinyl, HTV vinyl, vinyl heat transfer, HTV, HTV Vinyl,

By the way, there was no color bleed from the HTV onto the dark shirts - so this was a total win!

I'm happy to say, yes...this AlbaChem heat transfer vinyl remover works on both light and dark colored surfaces to remove both the HTV and the hard-to-remove adhesive.  I was actually surprised that I think it works better for dark shirts than light as long as you're patient enough to remove all of the adhesive.

The biggest con is the faint color bleed left on the white shirt from the original HTV  - but I have a feeling that may be a result of the HTV itself and not the remover.

Compare the price and then grab a bottle on Amazon or from our friends at Swing Design.

heat transfer vinyl remover , remove heat transfer vinyl , how to remove heat transfer vinyl from shirt, vinyl remover  heat remover remove heat transfer vinyl how to remove heat transfer vinyl from shirt how to remove t shirt vinyl


Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I receive a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine!


Get Silhouette School lessons delivered to your email inbox! Select Once Daily or Weekly.


www.silhouetteu.com

7 comments

  1. so before you put more HTV on it you don't wash the chemical off? just let it dry?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Would this work the same way on a hat??

    ReplyDelete
  3. Is this better than the stuff from rhinestone world you've talked about using in the past?

    ReplyDelete
  4. does this product work for removing the adhesive from heat transfer fabric interfacing?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Positively brilliant, thank you for your review. The video is so helpful. I'm saving the link to both your blog post and the remover.
    ~ Christina in SW FL

    ReplyDelete
  6. I LOVE VLR...I sell it in my vinyl store. It truly is a game changer when you're making items with HTV as a business. I've found that most of the left behind adhesive will disappear with another press. Once I take the HTV off with VLR, I press the area again and find that most times, there's no sign of HTV left. I did find out, however this DOES NOT work on printed items (like on printable HTV). The colors from the ink totally bleed through after you apply the VLR. Ruined a shirt!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you so much I was having such a hard time finding such a helpful review since I messed up trying to remove lettering from my sweater.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving a comment! We get several hundred comments a day. While we appreciate every single one of them it's nearly impossible to respond back to all of them, all the time. So... if you could help me by treating these comments like a forum where readers help readers.

In addition, don't forget to look for specific answers by using the Search Box on the blog. If you're still not having any luck, feel free to email me with your question.