At BELLA+CANVAS, we are all about creating soft fabrics. We’ve perfected the art of creating blends that are soft enough to live in, yet durable enough for a multitude of t-shirt printing techniques. When it comes to printing on blends, there are certain challenges, but you shouldn’t be intimidated to print on any of our blends including, tri blends, heathers, or flowy poly-viscose.
We’ve already given screen printers some tips for screen printing on our blends, and now we’ve teamed up with StahlsTV to come up with a few guidelines to keep in mind when heat printing blended fabrics.
3 Step Guide to Heat Printing on Blends
1) Look at the Fabric Composition
The most important consideration when choosing a heat transfer is understanding the fabric type you are applying to. Heat transfers are manufactured with a variety of adhesives to stick to varying fabric types. Make sure the heat transfer has an adhesive strong enough to stick to your fabric. Many heat transfer styles will adhere to cotton and cotton/poly blends with ease. If you’re unsure of what heat transfer to choose, manufacturers will publish a Material Selection Guide to help you get started.
2) Check for Heat Sensitive Fabrics
Fabrics that contain polyester, rayon, or viscose are heat sensitive and require a transfer that applies at a lower heat application to reduce scorching or burn marks on the item. The ideal heat temperature is 280 degrees and below.
3) Compliment the garment with the feel of the heat transfer
The last thing you want to do with your high-end and ultra-soft garment is heat apply a thick, heavyweight heat transfer. When printing fabrics that are soft and lightweight such as tri-blends or slub t-shirts, choose a lightweight heat transfer vinyl or screen printed transfer with a soft feel that complements the fabric. Also, keep your artwork minimal with open areas for the best results.
For more tips for heat transfers, head to Stahlstv.com or leave your questions in the comment section below!
7 Comments
Andre M
Would be nice to see some Sublimation results on Poly/Cotton mix shirts.
BELLA+CANVAS
Hi Andre! Thanks for the feedback. We are working on a video covering that topic! Please keep the ideas coming!
Cindi Lane
I am applying HTV to a 78/22 poly/cotton black shirt. What temp and pressure should I use. Very new to this.
BELLA+CANVAS
Hi Cindi! If you wanted some tips and tricks on how to heat press on our garments, you are more than welcome to check out our fabric guide and screen printing tips page: https://www.bellacanvas.com/fabric-guide. Please also feel free to check out this blog post to learn more: https://blog.bellacanvas.com/how-to-heat-press-fabric/!
Amber Logalbo
I’m interested in screen printing and sublimating on 95 % modal, 5 % poly material. Will this work? Could you advise me at what temperature and time on my heat press would have best results for each? Thank you
BELLA+CANVAS
Hi there! Reach out to our print specialist at [email protected]!
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