Heat transfer papers allow you to create your own customer clothing, bags, mousepads and many other fabric items. Simply design your image, print it onto one of our quality transfer papers and transfer it onto your garment using heat. It’s just that easy!

What you need:

Inkjet or laser printer

Artwork/Photograph

Heat transfer paper

Heat press (suggested for best results) or a hand iron (can be used with some transfer papers, but requires a hard surface and pillowcase)

T-shirt or other fabric item

Inkjet or Laser Printer?:
Inkjet printers have a higher quality print than laser printers with a larger selection of heat transfer papers to choose from. The options range from papers that excel in soft hand, less border, great color and more. Inkjet printers are easy to set up and you may already have one at home or in your office. Also, transfer papers for inkjet printers are more universal; they will work on most inkjet printers. However, inkjet printers tend to be more expensive when it comes to printing and ink replenishing.

Laser printers are more cost efficient and can print at high speeds when printing hundreds or thousands of pieces. Laser transfers are far less likely to bleed during wash than transfer printed with inkjet printers. Inkjet printers are photo printers, which means the more ink, the better. However, that also means there is a possibility that your printer may put down too much ink for the inkjet transfer paper to soak up. Any excess ink that the paper cannot absorb will sit on top the paper and garment, thus, causing the transfer to bleed in the wash. A laser printer’s toner is less likely to bleed in the wash. So if you are having bleeding problems with inkjet transfers, you may want to look into laser transfer printing.

On the downside, laser printers run hot, so transfer papers don’t always have a smooth printing process and can easily get jammed. Trial and error is the best way to find a paper that works best with your printer. If your paper doesn’t run well, don’t give up! Sometimes, if a particular paper does not work, you may need to merely change to a heavier paper mode on your printer options to accommodate the paper type.

So, in conclusion, when choosing a transfer paper you will need to decide what is more important to you — color and soft hand (inkjet) or cost and time efficiency (laser). Either way you decide to go, it’s important to test any paper you want to use. We sell sample packs of almost all of our transfer papers to allow our customers the chance to find the paper that works best for them. Regardless of the type of paper you choose to go with, all of our transfer papers will come with an instruction sheet to let you know the time, temperature and pressure that we’ve found works best with that particular paper, as well as any tips or tricks that will give you the best results.

Light or Dark Garments?:
Now that you have determined which type of printer you want to use, you will need to decide which paper is right for your project. Different colored fabrics will require different types of transfer papers. If you use a light-colored garment, such as white, ash grey or eggshell, you can use any of our light transfer papers. Most light transfer papers are softer, stretchier and thinner than dark transfers, with only a clear polymer border behind the image.

Garments that have colors any more intense or dark than those previously listed will require a transfer paper for dark fabrics, generally referred to as opaque paper. Opaque transfer papers have a solid white background which allows your image to show up on dark fabrics. In essence, you are printing your image on top of a white layer and then pressing the image AND layer onto your garment. This causes many opaque papers to have a thicker feeling than light transfer papers. Due to the white background on the opaque paper, trimming around your image is essential to making your item look professional. This can be achieved by using everyday scissors and a lot of patience, but that can be tedious and often imperfect. The best option is to use a vinyl cutter with an optical eye (such as any of the Graphtec vinyl cutters or the Roland GX24) to trim precisely around your image.

Heat Press or Home Iron?:
Heat presses are the best option to create the most durable imaged garment using heat transfer paper. Not only do you have complete control over the heat being used to transfer the image, you also have the ability to use the extreme pressure. Heat presses offer a wide choice of sizes and types (learn more about heat presses here) so you’re always able to find one that fits your budget and needs.

If you must use a home iron, we suggest using your iron’s hottest cotton setting without steam to achieve the best results. It takes extreme heat and pressure to transfer the image evenly and completely to the fabric and can be time-consuming to get a durable transfer. We currently do not carry any laser transfers that can be used with an iron, as laser transfers require very high heat and pressure, which cannot be reached with an iron. Even some inkjet transfers (such as JetPro SofStretch) aren’t compatible with irons. Our heat transfer paper instructions will often include separate details on how to best transfer using an iron.

We do carry two brands of inkjet transfer papers for light-colored garments that are specifically created for home iron use – Cold Peel and Iron Man. Again, we highly suggest purchasing samples of transfer papers to see if they are compatible with your project before purchasing a large amount.

Transfer Size?:
Standard sizes of heat transfer paper include 8.5" x 11" (letter-sized) and 11" x 17" (tabloid), but we also offer rolls and European sizes such as A3 and A4. The easiest way to decide which paper you need is by which size paper your printer will accept. Some smaller printers such as the Epson C88 will only run an 8.5" wide paper so you would not be able to run an 11" x 17" paper size. Larger printers such as the Epson 1400 or color copiers can run 11" x 17. It is also important to take into consideration the size of your image and the item you are pressing onto. Although an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper will work great for a small or medium t-shirt, you may need a larger size paper to accommodate large or extra-large shirts.

Preparing your artwork:
The final, but most important, part of your t-shirt design is the image. You can create original artwork from scratch, customize scanned clip art, or use ready-made designs or even photographs from your digital camera with almost any graphics or creative printing program. However, if you want color consistency and accuracy, we suggest using a program intended for design (popular design programs include CorelDraw, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator). Not only will this allow you to use the best available tools to create or enhance your image, but it will also enable you to tweak color settings if necessary.

Once your image is ready to be printed you may need to reverse the orientation of the image, depending on the transfer paper being used. If you are using a heat transfer paper for light colors, then you will need to reverse or mirror your image's orientation so that your image prints out backwards onto the paper. This is especially critical if you have text in your design. The text should be backwards on screen or on the print out. Ideally, the program or printing options will have an opportunity for you to reverse the image.

Since most opaque papers are pressed face-side up, there is usually no need to print the image backwards, but it’s always important to READ THE INCLUDED DIRECTIONS for the specifics of what needs to be done. It's also a good idea to print a preview copy of your image onto regular copy paper before actually printing it on the transfer paper. This will help you verify that the image will print in the correct orientation, doesn't fall into your no-print zone and is sized appropriately, as the on-screen view can be deceiving. Also, remember that the colors you see on your screen will not always be exactly what print out.

As with any desktop publishing project, consider the color of the item you are pressing onto when selecting colors for your designs. This is where you may need to decide to use an opaque transfer paper rather than a regular heat transfer paper. It’s a good idea to test your design on “scratch fabric” before applying it to your final t-shirt or other garment. Some fabrics may require more heat and pressure than others and may not show off your design as well as you expected. Therefore, it is best to determine the best specifications for pressing before you press your final product.