How to Officially Start a T-shirt Collection

So you wanna start a t-shirt collection? Oh,it's no easy task. It's just like collecting art, minus the square frames and hard to pronounce names. If you wanna be a real tee maniac, it's about time you officially start a t-shirt collection. Read T-Shirt Magazine's guide to collecting t-shirts first.

A good collection has both breadth and depth. Breadth: a variety of t-shirt styles, colors, and brands. Depth: a focus on a certain style, color or brand. Maybe you try collecting 10 red t-shirts as your focus but 2 of every color to have a variety.

Get as many limited edition t-shirts as possible. It's always good to have a few rare pieces in your collection. Plus, it sucks going out with some crazy shirt on thinking you're all cool and original and then seeing someone wearing the exact same one.

Buy t-shirts from underground brands. You'll be one of the only people to own a shirt if it's from a brand that's not out there yet. On top of that, when the brand does blow up you can say you started wearing it way before everyone else did.

Keep all your t-shirts in good condition. You don't have to be a neat freak about it but don't stain them permanently or tear holes through them regularly. Who wants to walk around in beat up t-shirts anyway?

Buy t-shirts that are considered collector's items. Shirts based on significant events, iconic figures, or pop culture are good additions to your collection. T-shirts of your favorite bands, shows or movies are great additions.

Have a story for every t-shirt. When buying a shirt for your collection, remember where you got it from, what made you buy it or some notable thing that happened that day. Makes for a good conversation when someone compliments your t-shirt or sees your closet.

When starting off, think quality over quantity. It's better to have a few really cool t-shirts than a bunch of t-shirts that suck. You don't have to pay an arm and a leg for quality, but once in a while you should blow $100 on a single t-shirt if you can afford it.

Pick a few brands whose t-shirts you like and get all the latest releases. Having a truckload of random shirts is cool, too, but having t-shirts from a select few brands shows you've developed a taste.

Now you're ready to officially start a t-shirt collection.
WHAT T-SHIRTS ARE MAKING IT TO YOUR COLLECTION?

Choosing the Right T-Shirt

What really makes some T-Shirt better than others?

Size Differences ( Tshirt Manufacturer & T-Shirt Manufacturer )

Sizing differs dramatically from brand to brand. Not only does the general size change significantly, but the length and width proportions vary as well. Your figure and style will determine what brand will give you the best fit. Check out our sizing guide for details.

Fabric Tshirt Manufacturer & T-Shirt Manufacturer )

Fabric determines many factors about a T-Shirt, such as how well a T-Shirt will hold its shape after wearing and washing. T-shirt can be made from 1x1 baby rib, jersey material, cotton spandex, among many others. If you want a T-Shirt that is soft and flexible you may want to try fine jersey. If you seek a durable heavy fabric, interlock is a good option for you. Polyester/cotton blends are a favorite because they don’t shrink in the wash or fade in the sun.

Color Tshirt Manufacturer & T-Shirt Manufacturer )

Different brands offer different color options. Some companies such as American Apparel offer trendy colors and styles while others such as Hanes provide a spectrum of colors. Some brands offer color combinations that are more appropriate for corporate wear.

Garment distortion

Often a brand new T-Shirt leaves the washer and dryer in a disappointing condition. Shrinking and color fading are the two most popular complaints. Hanes offers a spectrum of colors that won’t fade in the wash and other companies have garments that have minimal shrinkage. All T-Shirt will shrink to some extent when they are first washed. Cotton polyester blend T-Shirt will shrink less than 100% cotton T-Shirt and heavyweight T-Shirt shrink less than lightweight T-Shirt. You may want to call the manufacturer to ask the shrinkage percentages and purchase accordingly. Keep in mind that shrinkage is measured both horizontally and vertically because T-Shirt often shrink more in one direction than another. To minimize fading, turn garments inside out while washing and drying.

Pilling

Pilling is the appearance of little bumps of fibers on the surface of the garment. Pilling only occurs on shirts knitted with a cotton polyester yarn. It is not as common as it once was and occurs most often on fleece material. To minimize this problem purchase no-pill or low-pill products.

To learn more about T-Shirt that hold up to performance standards visit our favorites.

Summary

There are dozens of technical reasons that make one T-Shirt better than another. Yet, the most important reason is a matter of your personal style. You could purchase the highest quality T-Shirt but if it doesn’t fit you right, isn’t the right fabric, the right color, and hangs in the back of your closet, then you did not get a good deal. The following tips should help you to find that perfect T-Shirt to go with those oh-so-perfect jeans.

Heat Press Basics - How to Choose the Right Heat Press to Fit Your Needs

Selecting the right heat press for your work is important. However, for many, selecting a heat press can be intimidating. The task will be easier if you keep this one simple thought in mind- All heat presses do the same thing: provide heat, under pressure, for a specified time.

This article may seem a little long but all of your imprinting work revolves around a heat press. The more you know, the better your chances of picking the right one for your needs.

Here are three important features that you should always consider:

• Size: Think about the size of the work that you want to do and make sure that the press is large enough for want you want to do. There are 5 general groups of sizes and each group has its advantages, depending upon your needs. They are:

• Very Small: 4x6, 6x6 and 6x8 presses are perfect for small items like baby clothes, awkward items like tote bags with seams (they can be opened and pulled onto the press) and even very large items where heat is only needed in a small area. This class is usually referred to as “Label Presses”.

• Small: 9x12, 11x15 and 12x14 presses are excellent for maximum portability (and very low price), 8½ x 11 heat transfers that you print, patches and other small items. Be aware that many preprinted heat transfers are larger than the heating area on small presses.

• Medium: 16x16, 15x15 and 14x16 presses are large enough to do the work for most decorators. They offer the advantage of much more power (wattage – important if you are doing a lot of repetitive pressings) than the small presses, a much cheaper price than a comparable 16x20 heat press and the ability to press the typical preprinted heat transfer.

• Large: Any type of 16x20 heat press is considered to be a “large” heat press and very few have a need for anything larger. This size of press easily does 11x17 transfers that you print on an inkjet printer, the largest preprinted transfers offered on the market, large names and numbers on garments and multiple small items. Salespeople in most companies automatically offer this size because it is a bigger commission for them but you need to carefully consider if you need something this large as a start-up.

• Very Large: These monsters range in size from 18x20, 14x36 and 20x25, up to a gigantic 40x64. If you think that you need a very large press, speak with a reputable dealer and discuss what you want to do. A smaller press may be more than adequate.

• Heat Press Type: Swing-away, Draw and Clamshell heat presses are the three major types of presses. Each type will have certain advantages (remember, thinking about what you need and want), depending upon how the manufacturer constructs the press.

• Swing-away Presses: These presses lift straight up and then the top platen is swung to the right. When doing shirts, most will swing the top platen to a point slightly past the perpendicular (about 100°). Some of the swing-away presses will have a separate “swing-arm” (on the left side of the upper platen) to make platen movement easier (especially on the big 16x20 presses). Sizes of standard swingers range from 9x12 to 16x20, although there are much larger, for specialty needs.

• Draw Press: The draw press is unique in its class. The only one that I know of is the 16x20 Hotronix® Draw. This innovative press combines the features that most like in a swinger, with the space saving advantage of a clamshell. The press lifts straight up (2”) like a swing-away. However, instead of swinging to the right, the lower table is pulled out on a precision ball bearing slide. For some, this ability makes it more desirable than even a swing-away.

• Clamshell Presses: The top platens of all clamshell presses just lift straight up, to open all the way. They are offered in 11x15, 15x15, 16x16 and 16x20 sizes. For many, the simple efficiency of this type of press is very desirable. However, upper and lower platen construction can affect your pressings, depending upon your type of work.

• Rigid Upper & Lower Platens: Clamshells move with a “hinging” movement. If both platens are rigid, the back of the upper platen touches slightly before the front, as you close it. This produces torque (uneven pressure), if the items are very thick. T-shirts, on up to soft mouse pads are fine with this type of press. Items much thicker than that can present a problem.

• Rigid Upper & Tilting Lower Platens: The lower platen tilts up, on this type of press, as the upper platen touches it. This feature minimizes torque on thicker items like heavy jackets and rigid items like license plates and even a few ceramic tiles (the latter two are done with sublimation, not heat transfers).

• Floating Upper Platen & Rigid Lower Platen: This type of clamshell eliminates torque. The upper platen floats free so it is always parallel to the lower platen, as the press closes. This type of clamshell is very useful if your work consists of a variety of thicknesses.

You cannot see, when looking at a picture, what type of platens is on a heat press. You will have to ask or read the manufacturers specs.

• Safety: A cheap, poorly made (or worn out in the case of used) press may be no bargain. Be very cautious about used presses (they never have a warranty) or presses bought overseas (at least make sure that you buy them from a reputable dealer). If everything else is equal, consider a heat press with UL or ETL electrical safety certification. It’s the only way to know for sure.

Six other features that could be very important to you:

• Weight: Will you always be working in a fixed location or will you sometimes be doing mobile retail. If you need mobility, how much weight could you and a friend pick up? Because of manufacturing differences, the same size heat press can vary greatly in weight. Weight has nothing to do with sturdiness or heating efficiency. The examples are all excellent presses, but:

16x20 Clamshell 90 lbs.

16x20 Swing-away 108 lbs.

16x20 Swing-away 185 lbs.

• Form and Function: Because of design or accessories, many presses can offer extra advantages (if you need those benefits). In no particular order, here are some examples (there are more) of what I mean:

• Smaller lower platens can be purchased for some heat presses (sometimes handy for very small items).

• A cap and mug attachment can be added to the Knight DC16 heat press, as well as smaller tables. This can be useful (the attachments cost less than a full press) in a fixed location but is not practical for mobile retail and the mug attachment will only print one side of a mug at a time.

• The same type of press can accept different thickness of items: for example, in the 16x20 size, the Hotronix® Swinger & Draw accepts up to 2”, the HIX Swingman 20D 1½” and the Knight DK20S 1”. If this is important, make sure you find out about the press you want.

• All cap presses come with a lower platen(called a form on a cap press). Most have two other sizes of forms available. The Stahls’ Hotronix® and Mighty Press® cap presses have five additional sizes of forms available. This can be very important with the great variety of sizes and shapes in modern caps and visors.

• All modern mug presses are full-wrap, with usually negligible coverage differences. However, there are two major differencesin how they heat a mug. One is called a “rising” temperature press and the other a “constant” temperature mug press.

• Rising temperature mug presses idle at a lower temperature and then rise to full temperature when the press is closed. These type presses transfer faster than constant temperature presses.


• Constant temperature mug presses stay at the same high temperature at all times. While usually slower, they are best if you will be sublimating ceramic and metal travel mugs (rising temperature presses get too hot, too fast, to use for metal mugs).

• Voltage: Standard presses are always 110 volts. You usually must specify 220 volts to get that type of press. While there is a little room for discussion, the advantages of a 220v press (minimal) should be weighed against the total ease of plugging 110v presses into any standard wall socket. Note: Never plug a press into the same circuit as your computer.

• In smaller presses, the power (wattage that powers the heating element) rating can be quite different. This can be important if you will be quickly transferring to many items that draw heat from the platen, as the platen may not have enough time to recover heat, between pressings.

• Air Automatic heat presses use a compressor, are almost effortless to operate, are most commonly 16x20 in size but can be a clamshell or swing-away in design. They can be ideal when constant high volume pressing is needed. However, this benefit should be carefully considered against the much higher costs (and noise) of an air automatic versus a good manual press.

• Pressure on a manual press is controlled by a knob on the top of the press. Changes in pressure settings are usually needed because of changes in the thickness of the items you are pressing (you raise or lower the top platen). With most manual presses this is done by “feel”. While it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to develop a feel, it can be a nuisance if you have to do it a lot. A few presses offer methods that are more precise. The Stahls’ Hotronix® press line (Auto-open, swinger, draw, cap and label press) uses a patented pressure sensor in the press housing to provide accurate and repeatable pressure setting. The Geo Knight swing-away presses use a height gage to repeat pressure settings and the HIX SwingMan 20D has a height indicator gage on the side of the back support arm.

There are many other benefits of form and function that may be important to you and it is difficult to learn about them all. The best way to start the process is to visualize exactly what you want to do and then pick the press that best offers those benefits. Remember that a feature is only a benefit, if it helps you, in your work.

• Easy opening and closing: This is important to those who don’t have 100% use of their hands and shoulders and is also often desirable for those who will do a lot of pressings in one day. Presses range from Air Automatics that run on compressors to Auto-Opening manuals that require nothing to open and very minimal strength to close to swingers that are “finger-tip” light to open and close, because of CAM’s or progressive linkage to others that are relatively easy to open and close to others that actually require a bit of muscle to open and close. If this is an important benefit to you, be sure and mention it to your supplier so that they can make sure that the press fits your physical requirements.

• Elevated lower platen: Many heat presses have an elevated lower platen. This comes in very handy when you want to pull a shirt over the lower platen, press an image, reverse the shirt and then put an image on the other side. Hotronix® and Mighty Press® Digital presses have this ability, as well, the HIX HT-400D, HT-600D, Presto 20 and the Knight DC16.
  Note: for maximum ease of sliding a shirt on (or onto) the lower platen, you should get a Teflon slipcover for the bottom platen your press.

• Digital time and temperature: Analog [using a dial] timers are often not quite as accurate as digital timers (and many only go up to sixty seconds) and analog temperatures are often read from a tiny gage that is often hard to judge correctly. In the real world, a totally digital press is not essential (i.e., it does not affect the ability of the press) it just makes you more efficient, with less to deal with.

• Budget, of course, is always a consideration. While it is not necessary to get the “biggest and the baddest” (if you don’t need it) we do suggest that you get the best that you can afford. While you don’t need an 18-wheeler to go to the grocery store you also don’t want to buy a VW, when you need at least a pickup truck. Give yourself some room to grow.

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It may well be that no one heat press (that fits into your budget) has every feature and benefit that you would like to have. In that case, pick what are the most important features that you need and get that press.

In our supply business we constantly hear the refrain, “well I can’t really afford this press but I don’t want to have to buy another in a year”. We advise folks to take a different perspective.

Only get what you need and can afford. If you work hard, grow and prosper, it will be an affordable joy to buy another heat press.

We hope this article has been useful and wish you good health and prosperity.

PhotoEz - a bag, and some tips - a quick tutorial making a first screen printed t-shirt

OK, not that I am an expert or anything (since I have had the kit for all of about three days, and been peppering Solmu with questions - oh, and heads up Solmu, there's another PM heading your way shortly! ).

But, I have just done my first three colour print with my PhotoEz kit, and I think it turned out pretty well, so I wanted to:
a) Show off
b) Tell people what I did, hoping it helps others!

I apologise in advance if any of you are upset about breastfeeding stuff, but it happens to be my best selling design, so that's what I'm printing. The ink colours do not match my original, because atm I'm using craft paints mixed with textile medium. I'm hoping to order some "proper" gear next week.

So, step by step.
This is a picture of the current design I was aiming to print:


The first thing I did was to separate the design into colours.

You'll notice because I'm a touch lazy, I've only done two screens not three - the olive in the martini is included in the "It's my drink" screen. I'll explain how I still ended up with the three colours later.

Printing out of Photoshop, I selected to add "Crop Marks" to the print out. Then I exposed each print out.

The crop marks ended up as "ghost images" on the screen, so I used an box cutter to put slits through each screen at each of the eight marks.

I laid down the first screen (the one with the martini) onto the onesie, and then used a sewing marker to draw a line on each of the eight marks. Sewing markers are neat little things that you can use to "draw" on fabric, but wash out very easily with tap water. You could equally use sewing chalk on a dark coloured garment. Here is the onesie with the crop marks, and my first layer of ink:


I blow dried the paint using a hair dryer until it was "touch dry" before laying down the second screen. Then I used the registration marks to line up the second screen, and printed the yellow ink on. After that, I again blow dried the yellow ink, washed the second screen, dried it out and lined it up again to do the green in the olive. This only worked because the olive was kind of isolated, and I wasn't incredibly fussy about it overlaying the cocktail skewer too much.



Then I washed the registration marks off using tap water. I was impatient, so the shirt below hasn't been dried before I took the picture (hence it looks a little out of shape!).



There are some obvious flaws - I've laid down a little too much paint, and the olive is missing it's hole in the middle (again, probably because of too much paint). I think this is largely due to poor technique (as I said, I've only had the kit for a few days, and this is my first attempt at screen printing anything), and possibly a little due to "make shift" materials in using craft paint rather than "proper" screen printing ink.

However, if you don't require incredibly precise registration and are only doing a small number of garments, it's a nice "poor man's" way to get a several colour print onto a shirt! __________________