How to Print Picture Designs on a Shirt

The quality of clothing items lies in the style, design, and material used in making them. Designs on shirts make them look unique, but there are different ways you could print picture designs on a shirt. Most fashion brands print designs on shirts in a factory, but you can print your customized shirts if you understand the techniques.

As a graphic artist, one of the best ways to showcase your art is by printing them on clothing such as shirts. Printing image and picture designs on shirts is a good way to promote artwork designs to the world at large, which is a major reason why brands excel. For instance, whenever a person wears a shirt that carries a design, they tend to showcase the design everywhere they go. People who see them with the shirt on will get to see the picture design on the shirt, hence helping such a picture to get more exposure. This is a great way to promote artwork.

That said, do you have an amazing picture in your gallery that you will like more people to see?!

Printing your picture designs on a shirt should be the way to go. In this guide, we will introduce you to a process known as "Dye Sublimation Printing". This is a process that involves using transfer paper to print picture designs, and then transfer the design by infusing it on a surface like shirts and other clothing items. This process also includes the use of heat to infuse images and pictures on a plane surface with a pressing iron. So, if you have a beautiful design you will like to print on a shirt, ensure you continue reading this article.

How to Print Picture Design on a Shirt

The basic steps below will guide you on how to print pictures on a shirt;

Choose Your Preferred Shirt

The first step is to choose the shirt you want to print your picture design on. It is important to check the texture of your shirt because not all materials can be used for this purpose. If your shirt is suitable for picture designs, you need to factor in the color of the image on the design.

For bright images, you should print on dark-colored shirts, and for deep images, you should print on light-colored shirts. Doing this will make the picture come out clearly on your shirt.

Get a Transfer Paper

Laser and Inkjet offer different types of transfer paper, but you will have to choose the ideal one by checking the specifications. Knowing your transfer paper specifications will help you understand the type of material you can iron it on. When purchasing a transfer paper, you need to put the size and color of the shirt into consideration. The color of a shirt matter if you want your picture to come out clearly in the background. It is a factor that can not be compromised when choosing a transfer paper to use. There are two types of transfer paper you can use;

• Light-Colored Transfer Paper:

Thin transparent transfer paper is best for light-colored shirts

• Dark-Colored Transfer Paper:

Thick dark-colored transfer paper is best for dark-colored shirts

You have to put the background color of the shirt into consideration when getting transfers.

Choose Your Preferred Picture Design

Once your transfer paper is ready, you should choose the picture design you want to print from your gallery. It can be any picture of your desire but ensure it's of high quality. For instance, you can take pictures with a camera and send them to your computer. If you have pictures in hardcopy, you will have to scan them and then send the scanned file to your computer. Ensure your saved designs are in a picture format such as jpeg, before going ahead to print them on transfer paper.

You should note this; if you have plans to sell your designed shirts, ensure you print original pictures on them. This helps protect your business from running into any form of copyright issues.

Prepare the Picture Design for Print

Once you choose your preferred picture design from your computer gallery, the next move will be to prepare it for print. At this stage, you can make use of picture editing software to edit your design. The process of editing your image design includes setting the print option to allow flipping. This makes texts included in your image design readable.

Flipping your picture design is highly important to avoid mirroring the original picture when you need to reverse for transparent papers. You can test your changes on a piece of paper to see if it works. For dark-colored papers, flipping might not be necessary as it transfers the original image.

Print Your Picture Design on a Transfer Paper

When preparing to print your picture design on a transfer paper, make sure you check the print preview first. Print preview will show whether the design will fit on the transfer paper or not.

You will need to scale the size of the picture design down if it doesn't fit. To do this;

• Select "Print" after highlighting the image to display options
• Select "Print Preview" to preview the image design
• Click "Fit to Scale" from the print preview options displayed

You can also scale your picture design down by using image editing software.

Now, go ahead to print on the blank side of your transfer paper, but ensure your printer can do the task efficiently. You can print on the landscape if the picture design is wider than the length.

Trim the Transfer Paper

Once you've printed your image design on a transfer paper, you need to trim the excess part of the transfer paper that does not carry the design. This means cutting out the blank part of the paper to prevent the excess paper from showing up as a thin film on your shirt.

This process ensures the design comes out clean on the shirt. Ensure you use a knife and ruler.

Get a Pressing Iron and Prepare it for Heat Press

At this stage, you need to get a pressing iron needed to conduct a heat press. But before that, look for a plane surface you can lay your shirt on such as a countertop or table. It is important to avoid pressing the shirt on a hard surface, so you will need to get a cotton pillowcase.

Follow the steps below to prepare the pressing iron for heat press;

• Clean a plane hard surface and ensure it's not wet
• Get a cotton pillowcase and use it to cover the hard surface
• Ensure the surface can handle the heat from the pressing iron
• Connect the pressing iron to a power source
• Set the iron by ensuring the heat temperature is regulated
• If you are using a steam iron, turn off the steam by setting it as "Dry"
• Wait for a few seconds/minutes for the pressing iron to warm-up

Straighten the Shirt to Eliminate Wrinkles

The shirt you are using should be straightened by pressing it with an iron. This will ensure any form of wrinkles on the shirt is straightened out. Make sure you press the shirt with the iron until it is completely straightened out. Don't print on dirty or wet clothes. Ensure you wash and dry it if that's necessary. This step is crucial if you want your design to come out clean.

Carefully Place the Transfer Paper on the Shirt

At this stage, you will be required to carefully place the printed transfer paper on the shirt.

Ensure you peel off the back of the transfer paper before placing it on the shirt. When placing it, do that carefully by taking you time to place the paper properly on the shirt.

• For Light Shirts: Place the transfer paper face down
• For Dark Shirts: Place the transfer paper face up

You can cover the transfer paper with the paperback you peeled off initially.

Press the Picture Design on the Shirt

Once the design on the transfer paper has been properly placed on the shirt, go ahead by pressing the design on the shirt with the heated pressing iron. Ensure you hold the iron firmly while pressing the transfer paper on the shirt. The heat and pressure from the pressing iron will ensure the design on the transfer paper is transferred to the surface of the shirt.

Make sure you follow the transfer paper instruction by heating it to the required temperature.

Wait for few minutes to allow the transfer paper to cool down before removing the parchment.

Remove it once it's cool and the process of printing picture designs on a shirt will be completed.

YouTube Tutorial Video Links

Conclusion on Printing Picture Design on a Shirt

The process of printing picture designs on a shirt is straightforward if you follow the steps in this guide. It is important to ensure the heat temperature from the pressing iron is not too high or too low. If it's too high, you can melt the transfer paper and if it's too low the desire might not adhere to the shirt surface properly. Know how to regulate the heat for better effect.

You might need to practice this process a couple of times to perfect the skills. You should also try to use a different types of fabrics to know the one that is best for your personality. If you want to learn other methods, you should visit the YouTube links provided in the guide.

If you become very good at this, you can even start a customized shirts sales business.