About T-Shirt Printing

T-shirts have been popular since as far back as ancient Egyptian times. English men started wearing them in the late 1800s as an undergarment. The first T-shirt designs and screen printing services popped up in the early 1950s. T-shirt printing services have evolved over the years from making shirts by hand to using complicated machinery to produce printed shirts en mass. Nowadays it seems that anyone with a computer program and a solid concept in mind can have their own T-shirt or even a clothing line.

Screen Printing
When you need a professional quality T-Shirt printed, you have to go with a screen printer. Screen printers use special machines and tools to print designs onto T-shirts. In short, a mesh screen is placed on the T-shirt with parts of it masked to create the outline of the design, then inked and finally pressed into the fabric. A fully automated screen printer will place the shirts through a conveyor belt for printing and finishing. While in the past T-shirt designers had to come to a screen printer with a drawn or printed version of their design, now they can simply e-mail a file to have it printed directly from the printer's computer.

T-Shirt Transfers
If you want to make a quick T-shirt, you can also buy T-shirt transfer paper from your local office supply store or wholesale club. You can print a design on the T-shirt transfer paper on a standard ink jet printer. The T-shirt design has to be mirrored, meaning that the image has to be flipped horizontally on your computer screen and then printed for the design to print correctly. Then, once the printing is done, you simply place the transfer paper down flat on the front or back of the T-shirt and iron it on. T-shirt transfers are best for making informal shirts for quaint functions, such as family reunions, because they don't produce the same high quality as a screen printer.

Embossing and Embroidery
There are other options for people who need T-shirt printing services. Some customers might want an embossed or raised look for their T-shirts. The image is raised using a special heat printing process to create a 3D look. Embroidery is very popular on more expensive, designer T-shirts. This involves imprinting designs, logos and wording onto T-shirts using precise, high-speed sewing machines.

Shirt and Ink Color Considerations
When you are designing a T-shirt to be printed, you have to think about how the colors will translate on certain shirts. For example, if your T-shirt design is mostly red, it wouldn't make much sense to print it on a red shirt, because most of the shirt design would be lost in the background. That is unless the T-shirt design is printed on a white background to contrast against the red. When printing the white colors in a T-shirt design on a white shirt, T-shirt prints will sometimes just use the white of the shirt instead of actually applying white ink to the shirt. Of course, the best contrast is achieved by printing black ink on a white shirt, or white ink on a black shirt.

Potential
Some T-shirt printers are now cashing in on the convenience of online shopping. Anyone can have their shirt idea designed, printed and shipped to them with just a few clicks. Services like Zazzle even allow you to sell your shirt creations directly from its website. Whenever someone orders your shirt, it is printed and shipped to them automatically. This is a great money-making opportunity for skilled graphic designers looking for an easy way to print their T-shirt designs and generate a side income from their concepts.