Being a crafty person, it’s common to get a message out of the blue asking me how I would DIY something. Right before my Disney Wonder Cruise in December 24/Jan 25, I had a friend ask how she could get some warm Disney themed pullovers/sweatshirts but on a super strict budget ( I think she had to get/make about 8 of them). That’s when I figured I’d see just how budget-friendly I could make myself a Disney inspired sweatshirt just in time for my cruise and see if I could save my friend a few dollarydoos along the way.

Wanting to wear head-to-toe Disney is always super cute, but honestly, it’s not feasible for every budget. I knew that the official Disney ears on the cruise would cost over $ 50 USD a pair, so with that in mind, I set about DIYing and crafting everything I could to keep the budget down. This is where our sweatshirt DIY project originated from; let’s see how budget-friendly I can make a practical garment that looks good as well as be functional. To keep costs down, we will also be using iron-on vinyls as they come in so many styles and are really budget friendly. Let’s get crafting!

Sourcing materials is the biggest part of this project; you will need a plain coloured pullover/sweatshirt.
For my sweatshirt, I found what I needed on AliExpress, but feel free to shop around and check out op shops as well. As I was shopping for winter items at the start of the Aussie summer, I really struggled finding what I wanted in stores, which is why I opted for AliExpress. I will note that when I originally ordered my sweatshirt, it was about $6-7 AUD, the price has now gone up to about $10 – $12.

The second item you will need to source is your Disney iron-on. These are available online from heaps of retailers, but to keep things simple for me, I also ordered mine from AliExpress as the range was incredible and super budget-friendly. Here is the one I used.
If you haven’t interacted with iron-ons in a while, let me just say they are light years ahead of what I remember as a kid. The particular one I chose came on a plastic backing sheet, which I place directly onto my sweatshirt before adding heat, and it’ll leave this lovely vinyl-like transfer that looks great.

Materials Used:
-iron on transfer. I used this one.
-Plain sweatshirt. I used this one in XXL.
-Iron
-Ironing board

Method:
To create your sweatshirt, make sure your sweatshirt is clean and wrinkle free. Use your iron on a medium heat setting to iron our any wrinkles in the front of your sweatshirt.

-Once you have clean and flat surface on the front of your sweatshirt, line up where you want your iron-on placed. Take your time with this and try to imagine where the image will end up once you are wearing your jumper. Keep in mind awkward pattern placements if you are curvy (you don’t want awkward flower placements across your chest because it just looks odd).

-When you are happy with the placement of your iron-on, use your iron to gently heat the transfer until it attaches itself to your sweatshirt. Keep in mind small details that may need a little extra attention and take your time making sure everything is evenly heated and adhering to your sweatshirt.

For me, this only look me about 2 minutes and I used a tea spoon to make sure all of the transfer had fully adhered by rubbing the design very gently after the iron was applied.

-Leave to cool down
-Wear and enjoy!

As I absolutely love Cinderella and am a sewist myself, when I saw the Cinderella Sewing Club transfer, it was a done deal. As I had originally hoped for a cute Cinderella design, this one was perfect as well as budget-friendly at only $3.20 at the time of purchase (it’s changed to $4 since). This design featured Cinderella’s mouse friends posing with some sewing equipment, and it was absolutely adorable. I liked the “Est. 1950” as a cute nod to the release date of the film, as well as being one of my favourite time eras for fashion. The transfer took about a week to arrive, which is pretty quick, and it came with a cute little freebie. The freebie was a Christmas-themed llama (fa la la la llama), and it was a smaller size. Having this freebie was a dream as it gave me the opportunity to test out the transfers and put them under stress. Not wanting to waste a good item of clothing, I found an old pair of my husband’s underwear, which we sacrificed for science. The transfer turned out to be really easy to use, and even after I stretched and picked at the transfer, it wasn’t budging, so it was time to put the big one on the sweatshirt.

Although this project was super simple, I mean, it’s just adding an iron-on transfer onto clothing, it’s nothing revolutionary, I just wanted to highlight that creating little pieces like this can add so much more fun to your holiday. After showing my friend the sweatshirt I made for myself for less than $8AUD, she immediately shouted with joy that it was perfect for what she needed. All the kids (from 3 different families) got a cute sweatshirt with each family having a different theme (Princesses, Star Wars and Pixar). For privacy reasons I won’t share the cute photos from the trip but everyone was really happy with their unique personalised gift.

Now I understand that there can be a few dodgy seller out there selling unofficial licensed merch. I couldn’t find much evidence of whether the iron-ons were legitimate so I can’t really comment on that. I did not find anything when I looked for “official Disney transfers” and I know some online sellers do sell licensed items off of sites such as AliExpress so I figured they would have been taken down if they were not allowed to sell. I also did a reverse image search to make sure the designs weren’t stolen from a small artist and I had no results come up.

When looking for an iron-on transfer, I was overwhelmed by just how many different characters, themes and designs there were. I’m willing to bet most classical Disney films will have heaps of transfers available but I found everything from Toy Story, Winnie the Pooh, Park Locations such as Epcot and even holiday-specific designs. Some stores offered personalisation (such as adding names or dates) and you could honestly spend hours just looking at designs. These transfers were all really budget friendly (some stores offering discounts for multiple pieces) but most were between $2 and $4 per transfer.

How does it hold up after wash and wear? I’m really glad to report that after a few wears and washes the sweatshirt and the transfer hold up pretty well. Despite some light pilling on the sweatshirt which was inevitable for something so cheap, I am hoping that this sweatshirt will become a cute ‘around the house’ jumper to keep me warm in winter. The vinyl transfer looks bold, bright and hasn’t cracked, ripped or peeled yet. (This is 6 months after it was made). For the sake of this project and trying to keep to the smallest budget possible, the sweatshirt was perfect for my needs. I was able to buy an XXL so I had some wiggle room and wasn’t wearing anything super tight and the fleece-like lining was super warm. This sweatshirt ended up becoming my ‘chuck on jumper’ as it was warm, folded up well and looked bright and cute.

For my cruise, I wore my sweatshirt several times and it kept me cosy and warm. A few other guests had asked where I got it from (especially anyone who sews and wanted to find sewing specific Disney merch) and were impressed to know it was made for under $10. Unfortunately, nearly 6 months since my curise, the prices of items has gone up but it’s still able to be made for under $15 and multi-purchase discounts are available. For anyone who plans on making this DIY themselves, I wish you so mcuh luck, fun and I hope your item is absolutely magical!

If you’re in the mood for a giggle, here’s a great sequence of photos where I wanted a cute ice cream photo but the wind had other ideas.

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