Nowadays, hot-peel heat transfers are as good a quality as direct print and other methods, and can even be created very effortlessly from a home printer using the appropriate paper. Developing your own one of a kind artwork, printing it out on your home printer and making your own original shirt in minutes is a lot of fun! And it doesn’t stop with just shirts. You can also print baseball hats with heat transfers, while the same techniques apply, you will need a cap press. We’ll focus proper technique for them below:

(1) For the best results you should use 100% cotton or a cotton-polyester blend shirt. While there are a large variety of shirts on the market, Haynes or Fruit of the Loom 100% cotton or blends work the best for most heat transfers.

(2) For the best results, begin by setting your transfer machine to 375-400? F (190-204? C).

(3) Lay the shirt over the pad of the heat press and level out any wrinkles. For best results, you can even pre-heat the t-shirt which warms it up and flattens out those wrinkles.

(4) Lay the heat transfer paper about 3 inches from the shirt neck with the printed side down (so you can read it through the paper).

(5) The most widespread mistake for beginners is not applying enough pressure, so make sure that you lock the heating element into position and press with both hands – which requires a reasonable amount of pressure. Failure to use the right amount of pressure can result in the design not completely being printed on the shirt.

(6) After about ten seconds (fourteen seconds for 100% cotton) you will need to release the heating element. This is a general rule, but don’t leave it down for more than fourteen seconds.

(7) Immediately peel the transfer paper from the top right hand corner to the bottom left and do so in a reasonably rapid motion.

(8) The t-shirts should be cooled and ready in a few minutes.

On laundering, always tell your patrons to wash without bleach and immediately take out of the washer. To dry the shirt, tumble dry them no hotter than the medium setting and turn the shirt inside out. And we never recommend ironing the transfer area of course (but believe us people do try this and wonder what happened)!

Please visit my website for more information about buying a t shirt heat press or t shirt printing equipment.

categories: heat press transfers,applying heat press transfers,creating tshirts with heat press transfers,how to print t shirts,printing t shirts,t shirt printing,fashion,clothing