Transfer Paper Information by Coastal Business Supplies, Inc.

Transfer Paper

You can create your own custom clothing with absolutely no sewing skills. Decorate t-shirts, canvas bags, and other fabric items with iron-on transfers that you design yourself and print from your desktop.

What you need
There are kits available that give you everything you need, including software and a t-shirt, or you can assemble your own materials. Whichever route you go, here's what you'll need for the typical iron-on style of transfer:

-Software
-Artwork
-Transfer paper
-Printer
-Iron (or heat transfer press)
-Hard surface (if using an iron)
-Pillowcase or other fabric (if using an iron)
-T-shirt or other item to receive transfer.

When the instructions say you need a HOT iron, they mean it. Here are tips and explanations based on our experience with creating and applying iron-on transfers.

Always, always, always print a preview copy of your image before printing it on the (expensive) transfer paper. Do this to insure that colors print correctly, that your image doesn't fall into your printer's no-print zone along the margins, and to see what size your design will be (sometimes the on-screen view can be deceiving).

Don't forget to flip or mirror your image. This is especially critical if you have text in your design. The text should be backwards on screen or on the print out. (Another good reason to print a preview copy first!) Some programs do this automatically.

Transfer paper has stripes on the non-printing side. Be sure to put the paper in your printer so that it prints on the clean white side. In designing your artwork remember that WHITE does not print. The fabric will show through any parts of the design that are white. For example, if you print a white ghost on plaid fabric — you'll get a plaid ghost! Plan your design accordingly. As with any desktop publishing project, consider the background color when selecting colors for your designs.

Test your design on “scratch fabric” before applying it to your final t-shirt or other fabric. Some types of fabric may require more ironing (heat) than others or may not show off your design as well as you expected.

Use your iron's hottest setting but no steam. It takes a lot of heat to transfer the image evenly and completely to the fabric. Peel off the paper while it is still hot.

The reason transfer instructions specify a hard surface (such as formica) is because it holds the heat. Ironing boards tend to disperse the heat and the transfer paper needs to be very hot to work properly.

You can use almost any graphics or creative printing program to design transfer artwork. Ideally the program will have an option to flip or reverse the image for transfer printing or you can manually flip the image in the document. However, there are some programs designed specifically for creating personalized t-shirt designs and similar projects.

The heart of your t-shirt design is the image. You can create original artwork from scratch, customize canned clip art, or use ready-made designs.

Heat Transfer Paper
Heat Presses