Pressing issues with clothing

Hi everyone, first time posting but have been reading for a few years ha.

I have been sublimating for a few years now (not the primary focus of our business initially but moving onto it a bit more now).

I have been having issues when pressing t-shirts. As long as I have the seams outside the press I have no problems but when I go to press small items such as kids sizes, I believe the seams are that bit higher than the print area and so I get a patchy print.

Is there anything I can buy to put inside the shirt to lift it up bearing in mind I go from 1-2 years right up to XL adult so would maybe need a few different sizes?

Thanks in advance!

Hey, yeah there things like silicone pads in various sizes you can buy that raise areas up so things like seams drape over the edges for that issue you're having, or depending on the press you have you can get interchangeable plattens of various shapes and sizes that also help with that as well as.

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Ah thank you very much!

Is there a supplier you recommend and thickness?

Teflon pillows are what you need https://www.mdpsupplies.co.uk/stahlsteflonpillows.asp

Or, if you wish to take a punt, you'll find cheaper ones by searching ebay.

Depending on the size of image text you are trying to press I just use an old mouse mat or a couple side by side even an old T-shirt folded. All you need to do is raise is by a couple of mm.
I use a mouse mat when I am pressing a vinyl logo/text on polos as the buttons get in the way.


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Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

I have ordered a 4mm silicon pad so I can try it out. Bonus for these is I can get custom sizes compared to the pillows and unfortunately I don't have any old mouse mats to try out.

Thanks and fingers crossed!

Hi, I have now managed to get all seams outside the press or at least lower than the area to be printed so success?! No, sadly not, I have now replaced my problems with more problems.

In the attached pictures, the black has turned brown in a particular area so I reduced the pressure a bit and the time by a bit but it appears worse. I thought the black might have been burning but not sure now.

I am pressing at 200° for around 60 seconds and the pressure is set manually but I reckon it is high pressure.

Any ideas what I can try next, I have some test material and a few of these shirts I have ruined to experiment with but wanted some advice before pulling my hair out.

Thanks for your help

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Attachment 5934

Could it maybe be the material of the garment, I'm no expert, might be worth a wee look into though?[emoji848]

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I wouldn't say so as this is sold as a sublimation shirt from xpres and I have used them before without any problems.

I wonder if I need to adjust my press settings or maybe my colour profile?

Which xpres garments is it, i use them as well, the subli plus t-shirts.

I do them at 200° 50 secs as it says on the instructions from the site, i have a manual press for adjusting pressure as well, so I just tighten it down until around about hand tight, but not to tight.

I find if I do any more than 50 secs and any tighter than hand tight, it starts to brown the garment/burn it a little.

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I am using the baseball/raglan shirts by Vanilla. They are great quality. Seems we are using a similar set up, I will try adjusting the time keeping the pressure the same and wish for the best.

Todays results were better, I think the waving effect was due to the wrinkling of the chip shop paper under the garment (I had this here to protect the press from ink as I sometimes do a back and front print) so I took it off and the result was smooth but my blacks were brown at 200° and 50 seconds so I will reduce my time slightly but will also send off for a new ICC just in case.

Just a little update, (if I get no responses on this thread, I'll probably start a new one)

I have purchased a new rubber pad as I had read sometimes these wear in the middle so current set up is:
New rubber platen
Sublimation shirt (no seams inside the press)
Teflon sheet

Press for around 60s at 200 degrees C, pressure is set manually but I reckon it is middling pressure.


Whenever I press, I get a faded design in the middle of the shirt. It looks sorta brown so I took it out around 50 secs in case it was burning and decreased the pressure but this made things worse.

I thought the new platen rubber would solve the fading in the middle of my prints but it has not. Would my actual press be worn in the middle and if so, is it new press time?

Or is it the other direction and should I increase pressure and time?

I know I should try this and eliminate it but I have just ran out of test material so thought I would scratch your brains before the new material arrives. (I have a few shirts but a bit pricey to be experimenting on...I have ruined loads already!)

Sorry for the waffle, thanks for reading!

Could be uneven pressure leading to an uneven print.
If you are using an extra piece of platen rubber it needs to be dead centre under the presure adjustment - if not the heat platen will pivot, reducing pressure at one end.
Either move your rubber to the centre or balance the platen with a small off cut of rubber.

Thanks for that info. I am using just one piece of rubber at the minute and it is the same size as the platen so it is presumably centered ha.

If I ever get it figured out I will remember this when adding another bit of rubber for the smaller items I press.