How to Sublimate Your Shirt in 5 Easy Steps
If there’s one article of clothing that can be challenging to upcycle, it’s the humble t-shirt. It’s cheap, accessible and easy to find, which makes it a great fabric for experimenting with when sublimating. But how do you sublimate a t-shirt? Read on for tips and tricks on how to sublimate your shirt in 5 simple steps. Whether you want to upcycle old tees into something new or just add a personal touch to a neutral top, sublimation is an effective way of turning your old tees into something new again. Whether you have one t-shirt or several hanging around your house or have picked them up second-hand at a thrift store, read on for everything you need to know about sublimating your shirt in 5 simple steps.
What is Sublimation?
Sublimation is a type of printing process that uses heat to transfer dye from a paper or plastic source directly onto the fibres of your t-shirt. It can often be seen on sports clothing like football kits and basketball jerseys and is often used in the textile industry to create branding and printed designs on uniforms. The designs created by sublimation are durable, vibrant and long-lasting. Compared to other methods of printing fabrics like screen printing or direct to garment printing, sublimation has a few advantages. For starters, it’s solvent-free making it a great method of printing natural fibres like cotton. It also operates under very low pressures compared to screen printing making it suitable for delicate fabrics like silk and polyester.
Decide on a design
The first step in sublimating your t-shirt is to decide on a design. It’s worth considering the fabric content of your shirt when selecting a design as some inks may not be suitable for your fabric. It’s also worth noting that some inks are better than others at transferring to fabric. When it comes to design, you can go as simple or as complex as you like. If you’re sublimating an old t-shirt that you don’t want to completely alter, you can choose to simply add a slogan or a name to the back. Again, this is worth considering the type of fabric you’re working with. For a more in-depth design, you can create an image or graphic to print. If you’re designing an image, it’s worth considering if you want to add colour or if you want to keep it a bold single colour. If you choose to add colour, you’ll need to use a process called screen printing which is another form of sublimation used to print t-shirts.
Know your shirt type and fabric
As with any printing process, it’s worth knowing a little about the fabric you want to print on. While sublimation is effective on a wide range of fabrics, some are better than others. As a general rule, natural fibres like cotton, linen and bamboo work best. Polyester, silk and linen blends are also great fabrics for sublimation. Synthetic fibres like nylon, polyester and acrylic are also suitable fabrics but are more prone to imperfections in the transfer process. What also affects the suitability of your fabric is how tightly woven it is. The tighter the weave, the smoother and more perfect the surface of your fabric will be. Woven fabrics like silk and linen have a looser weave making them perfect for sublimation.
Get the supplies you need
As with any printing process, there are a few supplies you’ll need to get started sublimation. First, you’ll need to source a sublimation press. There are a few different types of sublimation presses but the basic function of each is to apply heat and pressure to transfer the ink from the paper onto the fabric. Standard sublimation presses are a great entry-level option for sublimation. They are either hand-controlled or plug into a wall socket. A lower-end option is a hand-controlled press, which you can expect to pay around $50-$100. Mid-range options like plug-in presses start at around $100 and can go up to the hundreds. You’ll also need to source some sublimation paper and ink. This can be bought online or from craft stores and is relatively inexpensive. You’ll also need some fabric and something to print your design onto.
Print your design
The printing process is the same whether you’re printing on paper or fabric. To begin, lay your fabric face down on a flat surface. Place your sublimation paper on top of the fabric and place a piece of cling film on top of the paper to make sure the paper doesn’t move during the printing process. Once you have your paper and fabric in place, you can begin printing. The best way to do this is to draw your design with a pencil on the back of the sublimation paper. Then place the paper, fabric side down, into the press. Now you can use a pen to transfer the design from the paper to the fabric. Once you’re happy with the design, remove the paper and the fabric from the press and leave it to cool.
Conclusion
Sublimation is a great process for turning old tees into something new again. Unlike some other fabric printing processes, sublimation is suitable for a wide range of fabrics and is great for printing on delicate fabrics like silk. Once you’ve got the process down, it’s a quick and easy way to add a personal design to an old tee or create a new garment with an old t-shirt. It’s also a fun and creative way to turn your hobby into a side hustle.