How to use vintage iron on transfers

My 5 year old loves Sylvanian Families and when I was looking for vintage SF things on eBay I came across a set of transfers from an old issue of Prima magazine from June 1990. I’d been looking for some Sylvanian Families t-shirts for a while but couldn’t find any so this seemed like the next best thing – the perfect way to make my own!

The listing for the vintage transfers had ended but I managed to find another set on eBay. They were part of a bundle of vintage magazines and embroidery patterns. They arrived this week and I was excited to open them. Unfortunately the transfers were separated from the magazine so there were no instructions, just the transfer sheet.

How to use vintage iron on transfers

I managed to find an old listing for the Prima magazine and see some of the instructions. It seems you have to simply iron on the transfers and colour them in with fabric pens. This is a great way to update clothing, bags or bedding for fans of Sylvanian Families.

There are three separate transfers – the Bunny, Badger and Chipmunk (?) families. You can either use the whole transfer or just individual figures.

To use the transfers you need to iron them on to your fabric (if you do this lightly then you should be able to use the transfers more than once). I’ve bought some plain t-shirts as well as a black permanent marker to go over the transfer. I’m still on the hunt for some fabric pens to colour in the designs.

I love a little vintage craft project and can’t wait to show you the results!