How to Print a Heat Transfer for a Shirt
Heat transfer paper allows any shirt or piece of clothing to be easily customized with company logos, photographs, graphics or text. Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak and other printer paper companies offer transfer paper for sale in the paper section of your local office supply store. Transfer paper comes in regular versions, as well as in stretch versions, intended for use on knit fabrics that require transfers to have some give. Customize your shirt with ease by learning to print heat transfers and properly apply them to your garment.
Things You'll Need
- Computer
- Internet connection
- Inkjet printer
- Plain printer paper
- Iron-on transfer paper
- Scissors
- Shirt
- Iron
- Ironing board
Instructions
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Select the image or text you want to transfer to your shirt. Look in your computer's picture files, or search for a public domain image on the Internet.
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Print your image or text onto plain white printer paper to ensure that the size is appropriate for your garment, and that the colors appear as you want them to.
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Edit your photo or text, if necessary. Crop or reduce the size of the image if it is too large. Expand the image if it is too small. Adjust colors or replace printer ink if the colors are not printing properly. If the image appears backwards, flip or reverse the image using photo editing software. Print a second test sheet to ensure that the changes alter the image so that it is suitable for your shirt.
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Remove the plain white printer paper from your printer and load the transfer paper. If you have a top-loading inkjet printer, load the paper so that the front faces toward you. If you are using a bottom-loading inkjet printer, put the right side of the transfer paper facing down.
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Print your heat transfer and allow it to sit undisturbed until the ink has had time to dry.
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Cut your image or text out from the transfer paper. Get as close as you can to the image without damaging it.
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Put your shirt onto a hard ironing board with no cushioned cover and preheat your iron on its hottest setting, with no steam.
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Place your transfer, right side down, onto your shirt. Put your iron over the transfer and press down onto it firmly. Hold the iron in place for 15 seconds and then move to the next area of the image.
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Peel the paper backing from the transfer, briefly reheating any areas that the paper does not want to release from. Allow the shirt to cool and launder normally.
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References
- Photo Credit paper feed image by Glenn Jenkinson from Fotolia.com
