Posted By TeckWrap Craft On September 11, 2022
What Do I Need To Print T-Shirts At Home? T-Shirt Printing Guide
Table of Contents
- Types of T-Shirt Printing Methods
- What’s the easiest t-shirt printing method for starters?
- What do I need to print t-shirts at home?
- Heat Transfer Vinyl Printing
- Supplies to Gather When Heat Transfer Vinyl Printing
- Reasons Why You’ll Love Heat Transfer Vinyl Printing
- How to custom shirts using heat transfer vinyl
- Sublimation Printing
- Supplies to Gather When Sublimation Printing
- Reasons Why You’ll Love Sublimation Printing
- How to custom print t-shirts using the sublimation method
- Tips When Printing Shirts at Home
- Frequently Asked Questions
Sublimation and heat transfer vinyl printing are the easiest methods for designing t-shirts at home. For sublimation printing, you will need a sublimation printer, special sublimation paper, and a heat press machine. For heat transfer printing, you should have HTV, a cutting machine, and a heat press. Here’s a detailed guide on the tools you should gather for these t-shirt printing methods.
Types Of T-Shirt Printing Methods
If you intend to start a t-shirt printing business, you need to familiarize yourself with the different design methods. Other than sublimation and heat transfer printing, the options are:
- Direct-To-Garment Printing: For this method, you’ll need a direct-to-garment printer (DTG) that prints directly on the shirt. The downside is that it’s costly.
- Screen Printing: This method requires a mesh screen, an emulsion or stencil, and fabric paint. For Screen printing, you’ll need a bigger workspace. It is a tedious process but cost-efficient.
- Printable Vinyl Printing: This requires printable vinyl, a printer with eco-solvent ink, a heat press machine, and a cutting machine. It is an expensive process and you can only print a limited number of colors.
- Dark/Light Heat Transfer Paper Printing: For this, you’ll need an inkjet printer with pigment ink, a cutting machine, and a heat press machine. You can print a small number of T-shirts only with this method. Large batch printing can be expensive.
What’s The Easiest T-Shirt Printing Method For Starters?
In the printing industry, the top two easiest printing methods are sublimation printing and heat transfer vinyl printing. If you’re just starting out in the t-shirt printing industry, it is best to master these two printing methods first before trying out the other ones.
Why are these printing methods recommended for beginners? Both printing methods have a low start-up cost and are easy to do. If you want to custom t-shirts, you also need to familiarize yourself with an image editing program and hone your skills with that too. It’ll come in handy.
Without further ado, here is a list of supplies or machines you need to gather for each kind of printing method. Included in this post, you’ll learn everything that you need to know about sublimation and heat transfer vinyl printing.
What Do I Need To Print T-Shirts At Home?
Let’s get to the point and discuss the three main things you’ll need if you want to print t-shirts at home. These are the machines you want to invest in if you want to venture into heat transfer vinyl printing and sublimation printing.
A Heat Press Machine
A heat press machine is a commercial-grade iron that uses heat to transfer prints. There are different kinds of heat press machines available. There’s the flat surface heat press machine used to print shirts, cotton pillowcases, and many more.
Heat press machines are also available in different types like a mini heat press machine, cap press for hats, and mug press, of course for mugs. You can invest in these heat press machines one at a time so you can offer more customized projects for your future clients.
An Inkjet Printer
For sublimation printing, you’ll need an inkjet printer with dye sublimation ink. The most common printer brands used for sublimation are Epson and Sawgrass. An inkjet printer is widely used as a sublimation printer as compared to a laser printer.
A Cutting Machine
A cutting machine like Silhouette, Brother, or Cricut is a must if you intend to enter the heat transfer vinyl printing business. There are plenty of cutting machines available in the market now. There are small to industrial cutting machines. But if you’re just starting out, a 12-inch cutting machine is good enough. Bigger cutting machines like 24-inch big, are better used for wall decals. That’s why a 12-inch cutting machine is good enough for starters.
Other Supplies
There are other supplies you also need to gather if you want to start t-shirt printing at home. These supplies are:
- Cutting mat
- Scissors
- Weeding tool or pen
Desk lamp or a light pad
Heat Transfer Vinyl Printing
What is heat transfer vinyl printing? Heat transfer vinyl printing uses specialty vinyl for fabrics. The heat transfer vinyl (HTV) has a heat-activated adhesive backing that permanently sticks to the fabric. You use a cutting machine and its design studio to layout and cut the design. You'll love heat transfer vinyl printing because of the variety of colors, textures, and patterns of HTV available especially at TeckWrap Craft.
Not only can you custom-print on cotton shirts using heat transfer vinyl. You can print HTV on other fabrics like canvas tote bags, hoodies, sweaters, denim jackets, and activewear as well. Plus, you can create multi-colored designs with heat transfer vinyl printing.
Supplies To Gather When Heat Transfer Vinyl Printing
- Heat transfer vinyl
- Cutting machine (Silhouette, Brother, or Cricut)
- Weeding tool or pen
- Cutting mat
- Heat press machine or EasyPress machine
- Any kind of fabric — t-shirt, canvas bags, denim
Reasons Why You’ll Love Heat Transfer Vinyl Printing
As mentioned, one of the reasons why starters would love heat transfer vinyl printing is its low start-up cost. Other than that, using heat transfer vinyl, you can create a custom t-shirt using a variety of vinyl textures, patterns, and colors. Here is the heat transfer vinyl you can choose from TeckWrap Craft, all available in different colors:
- Shimmer and glitter HTV
- Mirror chrome HTV
- Puff HTV
- Glow in the dark puff HTV
- Reflective HTV
- American flag patterned HTV
- PU Rainbow stripes HTV
- Colorful splash HTV
- Galaxy GTV
- Glitter HTV
- Soft metallic vinyl
- Holographic HTV
- Chameleon HTV
- Glow in the dark HTV
- UV Clean color-changing HTV
- UV Neon color-changing HTV
- PU metallic HTV
- Buffalo / Checkered HTV
- PU Marble HTV
- Glossy Pearlescent Metallic HTV
- Pastel color-changing HTV
- Colorful Camouflage HTV
- Snowflakes (Christmas-patterned) HTV
With the variety of options above, you can customize your own t-shirts at home anytime! As for the t-shirt design, you can download free SVGs online, purchase them, or make one of your own using the free vector images available at the library of your cutting machine’s design software studio.
Furthermore, you can print HTV regardless of the color of the fabric. Whether it’s dark, light, or white shirts, heat transfer vinyl will look great on any fabric color. Whether you’re printing on polyester or cotton t-shirts, it is compatible.
Here’s another tip — if you’ve decided to resort to the HTV printing process and invest in a cutting machine, you can create many projects too. You can custom-print stickers and personalize items like mugs, tumblers, keychain blanks, and many more. So aside from starting up an online t-shirt business in the future with HTV printing, you can also sell much custom-printed merchandise with your cutting machine. If you want to learn how to make custom stickers, make sure to check out this guide on How to Make Your Own Stickers to Sell.
How To Custom Shirts Using Heat Transfer Vinyl
Heat press printing is fairly easy to do. That’s why if you’re a beginner in the t-shirt business, HTV printing is the way to go. Practice makes perfect when it comes to HTV printing. Here are some easy-to-understand instructions on how to print HTV on your own shirts.
- Cut the design: Using your cutting machine, cut the design. Don’t forget to mirror the design and test cut.
- Weed the excess vinyl: Using your weeding tool or pen, weed the excess vinyl that you don’t want to be transferred to your garment.
- Press the shirt: Press the design on your shirt using a heat press machine, EasyPress machine, or regular household iron. Don’t forget to pre-press the shirt before pressing the design to wick away the moisture.
Sublimation Printing
Sublimation printing is a type of printing technique that uses dye sublimation ink and a heat press machine. With sublimation printing, you can achieve vivid, vibrant, and long-lasting prints on your t-shirts. The sublimation print won’t peel, crack or fade unlike with transfer printing (light or dark special heat transfer paper).
Originally, sublimation printing is only recommended for light shirts that are made of polyester. That is with the direct sublimation heat press method in a garment, but there’s a workaround. You can sublimate on a cotton t-shirt, even for dark shirts using heat transfer vinyl.
That’s why if you’re a beginner in the t-shirt printing industry, sublimation and HTV printing are a great combination. If you’re working on darker shirts with a simple design, you can go for HTV printing. But if you’re working on a dark t-shirt with intricate designs, you can print HTV and sublimate over it. Perfect combination!
Supplies To Gather When Sublimation Printing
- Sublimation paper
- Inkjet printer with dye sublimation ink
- Thermal tape
- Scissors
- Heat press machine
Reasons Why You’ll Love Sublimation Printing
There are plenty of reasons why you’ll love sublimation printing. You can make your own custom t-shirt with vivid designs at home anytime you want! Here are the many reasons why you’ll love sublimation printing:
- Not only can you sublimate on a t-shirt, but on mugs, pillowcases, canvas tote bags, and many more.
- Low overhead cost on the dye ink and sublimation paper.
- Sublimation printing is faster. From the printing to the actual method of pressing, it can be done in under 10 minutes.
- Sublimation printing produces vibrant colors
- Sublimation printing is perfect for multi-colored designs
How To Custom Print T-Shirts Using The Sublimation Method
Custom printing shirts using the sublimation method is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is print the sublimation printer, cut the excess part of the paper then press. That is if you directly sublimate on a garment.
If you’re working on a 100% cotton t-shirt, or dark-colored shirts, then you need to heat press the HTV first before sublimating over it. Just a tip when it comes to sublimation inkjet printing, avoid using a mini heat press machine as this will cause ghosting. When sublimating directly on a garment:
- Print the sublimation paper. Don’t forget to mirror the image.
- Let the print dry for several minutes
- Cut out the excess part of the sublimation paper
- Heat press the design
- Make sure to use thermal tape before pressing the design to keep it from moving
When sublimating on 100% cotton shirts or dark-colored fabrics:
- Cut the vinyl using your cutting machine
- Print the design on your sublimation paper
- The vinyl and sublimation paper should be of the same size
- Press the heat transfer vinyl. Pre-pressing the fabric for 5 to 10 seconds to wick away the moisture.
- Sublimate over the heat transfer vinyl
Take note when choosing a heat transfer vinyl to sublimate in, it is better to choose white regular or glitter HTV. Also, when printing on the sublimation paper, choose the best printing quality of your printer (found on the print options window of your printer). You want a high-quality image printed on the transferred image.
Tips When Printing Shirts At Home
Now you’re aware of the machine and supplies you need to print t-shirts at home, of course, you need to be aware of some t-shirt printing tips. Whether you want to print on t-shirts as a hobby or intend to make this your extra source of income, here are several tips you should remember:
- Set up your workstation at home and keep it organized.
- Ensure proper lighting in your workspace. Crafters should have good lighting in their workspace.
- When choosing a design for your shirt, it is best to make your own designs or purchase an SVG.
- Choose a niche for your t-shirt designs. Make it interesting, hip, and unique.
- For sublimation printing, it pays if you invest in a high-quality printer.
- If you’re using a cutting machine, always do a test cut.
- Before you heat press, make sure to pre-press the garment for 5 to 10 seconds to wick away the moisture from the shirt.
- When sublimating, use thermal tape to keep the design in place. If you don’t use thermal tape, there’s a possibility of the print to ‘ghost’, thus may ruin the print on the merchandise.
- Choose the best materials available. As for heat transfer vinyl and sublimation sheets, make sure to check out TeckWrap Craft.
Frequently Asked Questions
Concluding Thoughts
For printing T-shirts at home, it is necessary to get the right tools. The three important machines that you should invest in are a heat press, a cutting machine, and a sublimation printer. For your heat transfer vinyl and sublimation paper needs, make sure to check out the extensive collection at TeckWrap Craft. Transfer vibrant prints on shirts and make your creations unique and beautiful.
