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Textile finishing using sublimation transfer

YOW! Shop
2 min read
White polyester T-shirt with sublimation print: a woman with hibiscus blossoms in her hair, watercolour splashes in red and blue, and a circle with the words ‘lets misbehave’

Sublimation transfer is a popular creative technique due to its versatility. In previous articles, we have already explained what sublimation actually is, how this process works, and outlined the steps involved in making a photo mug.

You can find these posts again here:

Below, we would now like to explain another practical application of sublimation: sublimation transfer onto a polyester T-shirt or sports jersey. We are happy to make the design used here available for download once again:

Lindsay Subli without circle.jpg

Let’s get started:

1. Create and print the designs

We first imported the design into DrawCut Pro, arranged it on A3 paper and printed it using the Sawgrass Powerdriver on ourSawgrass Virtuoso SG800 sublimation printer. The advantage of the Powerdriver is that you can select the type of sublimation paper and the transfer object (mousepad, ceramics, jigsaw puzzle, etc.), and the colours are optimised accordingly. This is the only way to ensure accurate colour reproduction in sublimation quickly and easily.

Monitor with print dialogue in DrawCut Pro, PowerDriver SG800 printer selected, preview: watercolour portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair
The Sawgrass Virtuoso SG800 dispenses sublimation paper printed with a portrait of a woman and hibiscus blossoms in shades of red and purple

2. Preparing the transfer press and T-shirt

For the ink transfer, we used the new entry-level Nautilus 4050 Clam press. It is a manually operated clamshell press with a working surface measuring 40 cm x 50 cm, arranged in landscape format. It features a digital controller, on which the temperature was set to 200°C and the transfer time to 45 seconds, and it was preheated for a few minutes.

In the next step, the white polyester T-shirt is placed on the base plate of the transfer press and pre-pressed for approx. 3 seconds to ensure the fabric is crease-free and any residual moisture can escape. The mirrored paper print is then placed face down onto the T-shirt.

Open transfer press with a white polyester T-shirt on the base plate; the display shows the actual and setpoint temperatures of 200 °C, with YOW catalogues next to it
Open transfer press with 200 °C shown on the display; underneath, a white polyester T-shirt with a sublimation print placed on top, print side facing downwards

3. Transfer

Now press the T-shirt at medium pressure using the parameters mentioned above. Immediately after pressing, remove the paper backing from the fabric to prevent the edges from ‘bleeding’ and thus avoid blurred ghost images. Finally, remove the garment from the transfer press, allow it to cool slightly, and you’re DONE!

White T-shirt featuring a women’s motif, applied using a sublimation transfer on a transfer press at 200 °C; the transfer paper has been peeled off next to it
White T-shirt with a pre-printed sublimation design: a portrait of a woman with hibiscus blossoms in her hair and red and blue watercolour splashes

In this case, we finished the design in two further pressing stages using flex and flock film, as follows
(see the blog post ‘Textile finishing with flex and flock foil’):

White T-shirt featuring a sublimation print of a woman with flowers in her hair, complemented by a beige circle bearing the words ‘lets misbehave’ in flex and flock foil
Tags Instructions Creative technologies Textile finishing Textile printing Sublimation Transfer printing Sublimation transfer Sublimation printer

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