Printing guides
Printing
- What 300 DPI actually means once it is on fabric
DPI only means something next to a size. Here is how to tell whether your file is big enough for a 12 by 16 inch chest print, and what happens below 150.
- PNG or SVG, and when each one is the right answer
Picking the right file for a printed design. What transparency does, why a JPEG puts a white box on your shirt, and when vector wins.
- Why the same design looks different on a dark shirt
Colours that work on white can vanish on black, and it is not the printer. How garment colour changes a design, and how to check yours before ordering.
- Choosing the garment colour, and choosing it first
The shirt colour is part of the design, not a decision to leave until checkout. How to pick one that flatters the artwork and still sells to a group.
- Text only shirts, and why most of them look cheap
A shirt with nothing but words is the hardest kind to get right. Practical rules on typeface, line breaks, size and spacing that make the difference.
Groups
- Kids' party shirts: how many to order and which sizes
Ordering shirts for a children's party without ending up with three that fit nobody. Real size guidance by age, plus how many spares are worth having.
- Staff shirts with names, without the cheap look
Work shirts must survive daily wear and still look deliberate. What to put on them, where the name goes, and what makes them look bought rather than made.
- Team shirts: names, numbers, and the sizes nobody asks for
Kit for an amateur team on a real budget. What belongs on the front, what belongs on the back, and how to collect sizes from people who will not reply.
- Family reunion shirts that people actually keep
Most reunion shirts are worn once. What separates the ones that stay in a drawer for years, from the year and the wording to the thing to leave off.
- The checklist worth running before you pay for a group order
Ten minutes of checking prevents the three mistakes that ruin group orders: wrong sizes, wrong spellings and an order that arrives after the event.
Products
- Mug printing, and why the wrap is not a rectangle you can fill
A mug print curves away from the viewer and stops at the handle. What that means for where your design goes, and why centred art often looks off centre.
- Poster sizes, and the margin a frame is going to eat
A poster shows every flaw and a frame hides the outer edge. How to pick a size, what margin to leave, and why paper is less forgiving than fabric.
- Tote bags: the handles and the fold decide the placement
A tote is worn, carried and folded, and none of those show the same part of it. Where a design has to sit to survive all three.
- Phone cases: the camera, the corners and the curve
A phone case has a hole in the most useful part of it and curves away at every edge. How to place a design so it survives both.
- Designing for children's sizes rather than shrinking an adult one
A child's shirt is not a small adult shirt, and a design scaled down to fit one usually looks wrong. What changes, and what to change with it.
Buying
- How production and delivery work for a printed order
Production and delivery are separate stages. Check available destination options, costs and any stated timing before planning around an order.
- Cash on delivery, and what it means for a printed order
An explanation of cash on delivery when it is offered at checkout. Availability depends on the order and destination; it is not a promise that this payment method is currently enabled.
- What you can print, and what will get an order refused
Your own photographs and words are fine. Logos, characters and other people's art usually are not. A plain explanation of where the line sits.
- Washing a printed shirt without wrecking the print
A print fails from heat and friction rather than from washing. Four habits that keep a printed garment looking new for years.
- Colour basics that actually change a printed garment
You do not need colour theory to design a shirt. You need four practical rules about how ink behaves on fabric, and how many colours to use.