Design And Print Your Custom T-Shirt Easily

Printing your own t-shirt is a fun and creative way to express yourself. Whether you're promoting a brand, outfitting your family for a reunion, or simply adding to your wardrobe, there are several methods you can use to print your own t-shirts. The most popular methods include heat transfer paper printing, screen printing, direct-to-garment (DTG) printing, and vinyl transfer printing. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, so choosing the right one depends on your specific needs and requirements. For example, if you're looking for a cost-effective option for small orders with detailed designs, DTG printing might be the best choice. On the other hand, if you're printing in bulk, screen printing could be more suitable. Regardless of the method you choose, the process typically involves creating a design, selecting the right materials, and then transferring the design onto the t-shirt using the appropriate equipment and techniques.

Heat transfer paper printing

Step 1: Prepare the T-shirt Design

Use professional software, such as Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, to create your design. Ensure that you use a high-resolution image or save it as a vector file to avoid pixelation. If you plan to print on a dark-coloured T-shirt, use lighter colours in your design, and vice versa.

Step 2: Print the Design

Select the appropriate transfer paper for your fabric colour. For light-coloured shirts, use light transfer paper, which creates a mirror image, so remember to flip your design before printing. For dark-coloured shirts, use dark transfer paper, which applies the image as it appears on the screen. Ensure that your transfer paper is compatible with your printer.

Step 3: Prepare the Workspace

While your ink dries, prepare your workspace. Choose a cotton T-shirt with a tight and smooth texture, and pre-wash it to avoid shrinking. Iron the shirt to remove wrinkles and provide a smooth surface for your design. Find a flat, hard, heat-resistant surface for the transfer.

Step 4: Cut the Design

Carefully cut out your design to avoid unwanted thin film layers on your finished shirt. Any part of the transfer paper left will show on the fabric, so use a craft knife or sharp scissors for a precise cut.

Step 5: Iron on Your Custom Design

Place the transfer paper on the T-shirt, face down for light-coloured shirts and face up for dark-coloured shirts. Use an iron as a heat press to transfer the design, following the instructions on your transfer paper for timing and temperature. Let the paper cool, then peel it off to reveal your custom-printed shirt!

Heat transfer vinyl printing

Here's a step-by-step guide to printing your own t-shirt using heat transfer vinyl:

Step 1: Prepare your t-shirt design

Use editing software like Cricut Design Space to create your t-shirt design. Use SVG vector format for the best quality and scale the image to fit your t-shirt size. Approximately 10" will work well for a medium-size t-shirt. Remember to mirror the print, as images need to be cut backward, the same as in heat press paper printing.

Step 2: Cut the design

Adjust the settings on your cutting machine according to your base material. Each type of vinyl requires different adjustments, so be sure to select the right ones for your specific type. Place your heat transfer vinyl (HTV) on the cutting mat, glossy side down. The shiny side is called the carrier sheet, which transfers your design onto the shirt. Now, let the cutting machine do its job.

Step 3: Weed the excess vinyl

Weeding means clearing away any unwanted bits of vinyl around the edges of your cut design on the carrier sheet. Peel the vinyl off the mat, put the glossy carrier side down, and grab a weeding tool like tweezers or a pen. Peel off the first vinyl layer, and remove all unnecessary parts that don't belong to your design.

Step 4: Prepare the shirt and workspace

For this step, you'll need a flat, sturdy surface, a wrinkle-free t-shirt, and an iron or heat press. Avoid using an ironing board, as the applied pressure can cause it to bend or fold, resulting in a poor print. Instead, use a floor, table, counter, or a piece of wood. Set your iron to the highest setting or the cotton setting, and you're ready to apply your design.

Step 5: Iron on your cut design

Place the shirt on your flat surface and align the design where you want it on the fabric. Cover the HTV with parchment paper to protect your iron from getting vinyl on it. This will also help with layering and repeated heating. Place the iron straight onto the design, pressing down for 10-15 seconds per section. Don't slide the iron, as this can cause the HTV to wrinkle. Finally, peel off the carrier sheet and check the result. There is cold-peel and hot-peel vinyl, so check the vinyl instructions to avoid mistakes.

And there you have it! Your very own custom-design shirt, made at home.

Screen printing

The process starts with the artwork, which can be designed by you or a customer. The quality of the artwork will determine the quality of the screen print. If you are printing multiple colours, you will need to separate the colours so that you can create different screens for your design. You need one colour per screen.

You can use software such as Illustrator, Photoshop, or Procreate to separate and clean up the artwork. Once the artwork is created and the colours are separated, you need to print a film positive. A film positive transparency is like an overhead transparency. You will use this film positive to burn the image into a silk screen. You will print it out in black ink on the film positive.

There are several ways to make film positives. You can pay a local print shop, hand-draw the image on the film, or purchase a compatible printer for home or shop use.

Once you have printed the films, it is time to make the screen. A screen printing frame consists of a wood or aluminium frame stretched with polyester mesh. The mesh holds the image onto the screen and lets ink pass through when you press it with a squeegee. You will need to coat the mesh with emulsion to expose the design onto the screen. Before coating, the mesh needs to be cleaned with a special screen printing degreaser to ensure any dust, lint, or particles are washed off so no bumps or pinholes appear in the emulsion.

Emulsion is light-sensitive, so coating the screen is typically done in a darkroom with special light-safe yellow bulbs. After the screen is coated and dried, align the film positive onto the screen and expose it with a screen printing exposure unit or an exposure lightbulb for a specific amount of time. The screen hardens in the light, but the film positive or black area of the film blocks light from reaching the emulsion. This leaves the area of emulsion unexposed or soft. After the screen is exposed, simply rinse it with water. The soft part of the emulsion that was not exposed will rinse out, leaving areas of the mesh open that reflect your design.

Before you are ready to start screen printing t-shirts, you need to set up the screens on your screen printing press. A screen printing press consists of a base that holds printing platens and a number of colour arms. A manual press can be as small as a 1 colour 1 station or as large as an 8 colour 6 station. The more colour arms you have, the more colours you can print at one time. Likewise, the higher the number of printing stations, the faster you can print.

Before clamping your screens into your press, you need to tape off the edges of your frame with screen printing tape to prevent ink from getting where you don't want it. If you are printing a multiple colour job, you will need to register the colours so that they line up correctly when you print all the colours onto a shirt. Using a press with a laser guiding system or micro-registration is extremely helpful when printing fine detail and multiple colour prints. Once you believe your screens are in registration, you need to complete a test print to ensure that everything is lined up right.

Before loading the shirt onto the platen, you will want to make sure to apply pallet adhesive to the platen. This helps the shirt stick to the platen and not move around. Load your shirt onto the press and get your printhead aligned. Before locking the printhead into place above your shirt, make sure to flood the screen with ink.

Once the printhead is locked down, push or pull the screen printing ink across the screen to deposit the ink onto the shirt. You may need more than one round of this depending on how much ink was deposited. If you are printing multiple colours, follow these steps with your other screens.

Keep in mind that you may need to flash your shirt in between prints, especially if you are printing on dark garments with a white underbase. The flash dryer helps to cure/set the ink, giving you the ability to print another colour on top of your first layer.

You also need to cure the print after you are completely done printing it. Curing is when the ink dries and sets in the garment. You can cure a shirt with a conveyor dryer or a flash dryer. The temperature at which the ink cures varies. Read the instructions on the ink container to learn the proper cure temperature. If a shirt isn’t cured properly, the ink will not last and the print will start to degrade. To test whether a print has been properly cured, perform the stretch test and a wash test. Also, use a laser temp gun or a donut probe to view the ink's temperature.

Direct-to-garment printing

The DTG process consists of three main phases: pretreatment, printing, and curing. First, the shirt is pretreated with a clear solution to ensure the garment accepts the ink and to enhance the colour vibrancy of the design. The shirt is then placed in the DTG printer, which sprays ink directly onto the fabric. Finally, the shirt is cured and dried to ensure the design is resistant to washing.

DTG printing is best suited for small batches of shirts, as only one shirt can be printed at a time. It is also not suitable for dark-coloured garments. However, it is a wallet-friendly solution for smaller orders and is one of the most popular printing methods. DTG printing is perfect for those who want a highly customizable design with intricate detail and many colour choices.

Dye sublimation or all-over-print

This method offers several benefits, including bright, crisp, and durable designs that cover the entire t-shirt, from seam to seam. There is also no limit to the number of colours that can be used, and the process is relatively quick, making it suitable for orders of any size.

However, dye sublimation works best with 100% polyester t-shirts, as the inks only adhere well to polyester fibres. While it is possible to print on some poly-cotton blends, the colours may appear faded. Additionally, this method may not be as cost-effective for bulk orders compared to other printing techniques.

To get started with dye sublimation, you will need a design, a printer that can handle sublimation inks, heat transfer paper, and a heat press machine. Keep in mind that the t-shirts should be white, as the sublimation process applies your design on top of the fabric colour. The entire process can be done at home with the right equipment, or you can use a professional service.

Frequently asked questions