How to Print Shirts

Printed shirts come in a variety of themes, designs and colors, suited for many different tastes. Screen printed shirts can be bought in retail clothing stores, on websites, department stores, at concerts and at thrift stores, and can be very expensive or cost bargain-basement prices. If you want to make unique, custom-printed shirts of your own design, you can print t-shirts at home. You do not have to be an artist or own any fancy equipment. Follow these steps for how to print shirts.

1. Decide on a design. This can be a design that you drew or any design of your choosing. Remember that the more complex the design and the more colors, the more time and effort it will take to screen print your shirt.
2. Choose a shirt. Make sure your shirt can lie flat for printing, that it is made of a natural fabric that will accept dye and that it is large enough for the print you want. T-shirts are a good choice because they do not have any buttons and they are most often made of cotton.
3. Make a screen printing frame to print a shirt with.
   • Choose a frame large enough for your design. There are many options regarding things you can use for a screen printing frame, from picture frames to canvas-stretching frames. Just be sure to choose a frame with a flat face and remove everything from the inside and back of the frame before proceeding.
   • Stretch a gauzy fabric over the frame, stapling around all the sides. Do not staple on the flat front of the frame, which will need to lie flat on the shirt.
   • Trace your chosen design onto the gauze fabric using a pencil.
   • Use a paintbrush to paint all of the areas outside of your design with a non-water soluble glue. This will prevent dye from coming through the gauze, allowing it only to come through the design you traced.
   • Once the glue dries thoroughly your screen printing frame is complete.
4. Put a layer of wax paper in between the front and back sides of the shirt before attempting to screen print in order to prevent the dye from bleeding through to the other side.
5. Lay the shirt on a perfectly flat surface.
6. Iron the shirt on a medium setting.
7. Print your shirt.
   • Put your screen print frame face-down on the part of the shirt you want to print.
   • Pour a small blob of screen printing ink at one end of the frame, being sure not to let it seep outside of the edges.
   • Use a squeegee to spread the ink over the design in one swipe.
   • Lift the screen printing frame.
8. Allow the shirt to dry.

• Be creative with your screen printing frame. Use embroidery hoops if you want to skip the staple gun step.
• Stock up on cheap frames of all sizes at your local thrift store.
• Pantyhose and/or sheer curtain fabric are good choices for the screen printing frame. Experiment with different fabrics for different designs.
• If you want to print a shirt with a multi-colored design, create a frame for each color and let the shirt dry in between each print. Be careful to line up the design exactly each time to lay down a new color.
• When swiping your squeegee, hold it at the right angle: 45 degrees for a square blade and 90 degrees for a D-cut blade.

• If you choose a very complex design, you will need to use a very fine fabric to prevent bleeding.
• Try not to squeegee over the design more than once. This will prevent you from sliding the gauze of the frame and smudging your design.

• Shirt
• Wax paper
• Frame
• Gauze fabric
• Staple gun
• Staples
• Pencil
• Non-water soluble glue
• Paintbrush
• Screen printing dye
• Squeegee
• Iron