How To Do Reverse Weeding on Vinyl

This is a game changer my friends! You have to try this, maybe save yourself some of the headaches I’ve had! I like to do small vinyl pieces, but I have wasted many designs by weeding the wrong way! So much time wasted too. This technique is genius! Once you master it, you just might do all your weeding in reverse! Let me show you how to do reverse weeding on vinyl.

First you cut your design. Place the transfer paper over the entire piece. It’s better to use a new piece of transfer paper and I prefer to use the Cricut brand as opposed to Dollar Tree contact paper for reverse weeding.  Burnish the piece on the front and remove it from the mat. (Please forgive how my poor mat looks in the photos, I’m getting every bit of good out of it I can!)

Burnish well on the back and place it transfer paper side down on the mat. I like to put it back on the mat because it holds the piece in place and just makes it so much easier. Since my mat isn’t as sticky as a new one, I use tape to hold it in place. Remove the vinyl backing.

Now it’s time to pull the excess vinyl off the design. This is a pretty intricate design so I cut the pieces as I weeded them off. This does take time and is tedious at times, but well worth the effort. Just keep pulling and use the weeding tools when necessary. Reverse weeding is simply weeding off of the transfer tape.

So it’s easy to get the small pieces now with a weeding tool. Before it was a nightmare! I would get to almost the end of a weeding project and pull something wrong and there that goes! I don’t have that problem any more when I do reverse weeding. No more waste time and money!

All ready to put on the piece of wood I have painted black and sanded around the edges. I love how it turned out even if I missed centering it perfectly. That’s what makes handmade things unique! (At least that’s what I tell myself when I mess up!)

Alright, there you go. It was a pleasure to show you how to do reverse weeding on vinyl. I hope you found it helpful. I’d love to see your reverse weeding projects. The lease post any photos or thoughts in the comments below.