We all love  personalized t-shirts,  they are cheap and can be a statement of intent. If you are creative and are thinking about creating a new business with your own homemade designs and you don’t want to spend too much money in the process, this post may help you. We will show you different methods so you can customize and sell your t-shirts. We must keep in mind that all the techniques below require practice to obtain a good result. Test on textiles other than the final ones so as not to use up the available budget before starting. If what you want is a professional finish, you might want to check out our  textile printing catalogue. We provide custom t shirts in Dallas. Lets discover these 10 ways to print t-shirts at home:

Screen printing at home:

Screen printing on  personalized t-shirts  is undoubtedly one of the most used techniques; It is quite easy to learn, but if you want to do it correctly you must have your own workshop or a space that you can have to be able to perform all your skills adequately in this art that is screen printing.

 

One of the main reasons why screen printing is a great option is that you will be able to create a large number of t-shirts in a single day. 

 

To begin, you should know what each of the necessary elements is and what it is called: 

 

Process:

The first thing you will need is to buy  your own screens or frames , which are made up of a simple wooden or metal frame and a mesh through which the ink flows. You can also build it , you will only need to buy the wooden frame at any fine arts or crafts store, the mesh and join both elements with staples or nails so that they are well fixed. 

 

The meshes are measured in  “threads”  and you can find them in different sizes (85 threads, 130 threads, 250 threads, etc.) We recommend a mesh of approximately 100 to 130 threads  , which is the most versatile and can be used for practically everything. type of designs. 

 

Once we have the screen ready, we will need  to have  photographic emulsion , which you can buy at any photography store or in a specialized fine arts store. Spread a small part of this emulsion (on the outside of the screen) and use the spatula / scraper to ensure it is well covered. Next you will need to take the screen to a dark area to dry,  leave it to dry in a horizontal position for between 1 and 3 hours . 

 

Meanwhile, you can  create your design on cardboard or similar , cutting out the silhouette. Then, you can place the screen with the silhouette of your creation on top of the emulsion under direct light (spotlight, gooseneck or special 150 watt lamp), thus preventing it from getting light  (this process will take approximately 30-40 minutes). , do not move the screen during this time).

 

 Now that the emulsion is completely set you can  put it under a tap or wash it with a hose.  With this process, the emulsion part in the area where your design was will be eliminated, allowing the ink to pass only through this area.

 

 We have our screen ready to start printing our t-shirts!

 

Place the shirt  stretched out on a table or whatever surface you choose to work on.  We recommend putting a semi-rigid paper or template inside the t-shirt so that the ink does not bleed through and the t-shirt remains as stretched as possible.

 

Place the screen on the garment (if you want and you have special clamps or clamps on hand to  immobilize the screen on the table,  it will be more comfortable to work with) and  add the amount of ink that you consider necessary to cover your design  on the inside, like this You can drag the ink over the screen to cover it completely.

 

The more passes you apply paint,  the more defined the design will be . You will have to practice to know what pressure you need to apply so that the print is perfect the first time. It’s a matter of practice!

 

Paint by hand

There is a wide variety of products with which to paint on fabric: different paints, inks and many accessories so that nothing stops you from creating your designs to make your t-shirt a true work of art, unique and original.

 

Hand painting your own t-shirts is  one of the easiest ways  to create your own unique designs to sell. If you are good at drawing or reproducing images, painting your t-shirts by hand will give you great freedom in expressing your art. All you have to do is imagine that the t-shirt is a canvas and  let your creativity fly.

 

You must take into account before starting that the  inks, markers, paints and other materials are special for fabric  to prevent all your effort from going down the drain; This is the worst thing that can happen to you. Because, you don’t want your customers to complain about the purchased product, right?

 

If you’re not sure you’ve purchased the right material, you can test it on small pieces of fabric and wash them by hand. 

 

The main advantage of this type of t-shirt customization is that each of your t-shirts will be like a work of art. There will be no two alike, so we will be talking about an exclusive product and this is highly valued by the customer.

 

Dye and tie

This technique became  very famous in the height of the hippie era  (1960s) , who, inspired by prohibited substances, decided to start wearing these garments dyed in different colors.

 

With this technique you can achieve  bright and striking colors  if what you like is  to dress colorfully .

 

It is a type of  “reserve” dye  for the simple reason that when you wrinkle the shirt and tie it well with rubber bands, strings or bands, what you do is  reserve that space for another color,  or to leave it blank because the ink and bleach it won’t get there.

 

The results obtained from this technique are truly impressive and very striking.

 

It has the peculiarity, as with the hand painting technique, that no two t-shirts will be the same. So if you are thinking of selling something completely unique, this is the technique that suits you.

 

It is important that you practice this technique on different fabrics, since each one will react differently with the dye.

 

On the internet you can also find different types of knots to obtain different results depending on which one you choose.

Use of templates

This technique is the economical version of screen printing. Instead of printing on the screen, you will paint over the gap in your design, thus creating the fill.

 

To start with this type of printing, you will need a rigid material to create the template, scissors or cutter, adhesive tape and a brush. Also be sure to get textile paints, you can find them at specialty paint or fine art stores.

Reproduce your design on a durable material such as plastic, cardboard or similar because if you are going to paint on it, it must withstand the wear and tear of the paint. Once you have the design, you just have to cut the inside of your template with a cutter or scissors (whatever you want to be printed on the t-shirt).

 

Position your template on the shirt and try to immobilize it so that the design is well defined. In this case we also recommend putting some paper or material on the inside of the t-shirt to prevent the paint from bleeding through if you add too much.

 

The only disadvantage of this method is that it is quite slow and you have to be really careful, both when cutting out all the details of your design and when painting.

 

 

Fade with bleach

Unlike other t-shirt printing techniques, bleach bleaching removes the original pigment from the t-shirt instead of adding it. 

 

As in most of the previously mentioned techniques, we recommend that you make a divider to insert inside the shirt to protect the other side. 

 

For this type of customization, all you need is bleach, a t-shirt, and your imagination. You can also use stencils and apply the bleach with a brush or cotton pad.

 

It is important to keep in mind that depending on the type of cotton, quality of dye, quantity and color of the shirt, the bleach will react with a different color in each case.

Airbrush and spray

Just like to personalize your t-shirts by painting them by hand, you must have experience and master the materials and tools you are going to use: the airbrush and/or spray can.

 

The advantages of this technique is that you can create a truly impressive design and you will please your clients with a spectacular technique and a unique design.

 

Learning how to use an airbrush can be fairly easy, but if you’re looking for realistic effects, it may take a little more time and practice. 

 

If you are interested in this technique in order to develop your t-shirt business, it is important that you consider taking a specialized course, but on YouTube you can always find different tutorial videos that explain how to do it correctly.

Stamping with stamps and shapes (Stamping)

Surely 90% of us have printed something at least once in our lives using tampons, although it had probably never occurred to us to do it on a t-shirt.

 

We must highlight this method because it is one of the most basic and “grateful” ones; you just have to put any object that is flat (like a cork for example) on ink and stamp it on the desired surface and that’s it! Easy, right?

It is a very easy and effective creation process that even children can do for entertainment.

 

The only drawback of this technique is that if you don’t plan a little about what you want to do, it can end up being a somewhat chaotic and messy design.

 

You can first test on a blank piece of paper to control a little how the final result of your t-shirt will be. 

Transfer

To use the Transfer printing technique, all you will need is transfer paper,  a printer, scissors and a household iron. You don’t need sewing knowledge, much less knowledge of screen printing or similar.

 

This technique has a great advantage over all others, and that is that thanks to its printing using a printer we can reproduce as many t-shirts as we want with the same design. We can print everything we can think of without limits. It is very easy to produce t-shirts this way and above all, fast and clean.

Have your design ready to hit the print button, but don’t forget to print your reflected image (mirror) and print the same number of copies as t-shirts.

 

You can find special transfer papers to iron on at home in any stationery store or online stores. Look at the paper packaging and read its instructions to find out how long you should iron the paper for the best result.

 

You should keep in mind that this type of transfer is one of the shorter duration techniques mentioned. It is important that you mention this point to your clients, otherwise you will receive complaints.

 

 

Embroidery

We consider that this technique is not the most profitable nor the fastest, but with time, patience and a good hand you will achieve unique results.

 

The art of hand sewing will take you time, but you will achieve unique embroidery on any type of textile product, including caps, sweatshirts, bags, t-shirts and much more.

 

If you have an embroidery machine at home it is perfect, but otherwise, you will have to do it by hand so the design should be simpler if you do not want to despair in the attempt.

Using an online printing company

Thanks to the internet and technological advances, the  best way to print t-shirts from home, without a doubt, is to have an online company  that offers you all the existing textile customization services  to reproduce your designs.

 

In addition to being able to order your designs, you will also be able to have an extensive catalogue, as in our case! This way you will only have to worry about choosing which  T-shirt model  you want and which  printing technique  works best for you. 

 

Using an  online company  to print your designs will save you the expense of having to buy t-shirts in bulk, since we offer them at the  most competitive price along with printing .

 

On the other hand, you can not worry about production, leaving everything in our hands so that you can dedicate yourself  100% to promoting your business , advertising your brand and creating new designs with which to surprise your clients with  new t-shirt prints .