Fabric placemat - non printing lines

[RuthWinchester]

Dear Hive Mind,

I'm printing some dark grey placemats (double-sided stitched linen-look type) and the internal seam is creating an INCREDIBLY ANNOYING step in the fabric, which is resulting in a pale line around parts of the edge.

I have been through about 20 mats trying to make 6 acceptable ones and am tearing my hair out. I've tried nomex felt, deep rubber mat, no mat, high pressure, low pressure, longer time, shorter time etc etc.

Does anyone have any ideas before I throw the heat press and all the damn mats out of the window?

TIA!

Ruth

PS I have withdrawn the design from sale as "way too much hassle" so I just need to get these 6 done and then I can calm down!

[RuthWinchester]

IMG_2592.jpgPic of offending area...

[webtrekker]

Sorry, but this will be of no help. I can't see a way you could get over this with normal sublimation and pressing. Maybe a DTG machine or similar would have done the job, but at what cost? The only way I think would work would be to redesign them so that you had a white border around the offending area, not the best idea though, I know.

[RuthWinchester]

Yes, you're probably right. Frustrating tho - I would have concluded that it was a lost cause immediately if it wasn't for the first two or three, which printed absolutely fine, but were a bit overcooked. Hence trying to recreate the "correct" conditions. I print quite a few lighter coloured mats and they're generally fine.

I'm currently cutting up a laptop sleeve to try to create a slightly raised area underneath the rubber platen bit, in the hope that it'll flatten the damn things out enough to print properly... At this rate I'll have spent 3x the order value just getting it sorted - argh!!

[webtrekker]

Have to tried pre-pressing them with a LOT of pressure to try and flatten the area as much as possible before pressing the design?