HELP - Designs are peeling in the middle?

[momofpirates]

We created 40 shirts this weekend and followed the transfer directions to the T. We prewashed with only detergent, ironed and cooled the shirt before applying the design, waited 24 hours for them to set and washed them inside out with a cup of vinegar, dried them on a low heat setting. When we pulled them out of the washer, a few of them had spots in the middle of the designs where the color looks like it wore off.

Anyone have any ideas of why this happened? Maybe we didn't set the ink long enough? We used only dark transfer paper. Just don't want to make the same mistake again.

TIA

 

[marshallandcartersmo]

I'm sorry I can't help you...........I didn't wash my shirts after I put the designs on until they were worn. I have read others that do the vinegar wash after they put the design on, but I never did.

 

[DisneyMom92]

We created 40 shirts this weekend and followed the transfer directions to the T. We prewashed with only detergent, ironed and cooled the shirt before applying the design, waited 24 hours for them to set and washed them inside out with a cup of vinegar, dried them on a low heat setting. When we pulled them out of the washer, a few of them had spots in the middle of the designs where the color looks like it wore off.

Anyone have any ideas of why this happened? Maybe we didn't set the ink long enough? We used only dark transfer paper. Just don't want to make the same mistake again.

TIA

Hmmmm, this is really a new one on me. The vinegar wash should have made the ink set up better. When I first read your title, I thought you were saying the image buckled or had air holes in it. I had the solution for that.

The only thing I can suggest for future shirts is to iron longer than your instructions say, making sure you are ironing evenly and keeping the iron moving. Make sure the middle gets as much attention as the edges. You might have missed a spot ironing, so use more than one pattern to go over the project (zig zag, circle, etc).

One thought, though, you are not using one of those new "waterproof" inks are you? I think Lexmark and maybe HP have them. My understanding is you are not supposed to use those for wearables. I don't have any experience with them so I don't know how they react or why you can't use them, however.

Really practice makes perfect and it looks like, out of 40 if only a few messed up, you are ahead of the game.

 

[momofpirates]

DisneyMom92

Thanks for the feedback. The only thing we could think of was that a few small spots didn't get enought heat, but a few of the transfers were only 2" square, so the iron fit over the whole design. We are wondering if there was something wrong with the transfer paper? Have you ever tried putting a new transfer over an old one? We thought we might try that on one and see if that will work. I think we have about 8 that need to be redone. Luckily we're only out about $3 per sheet because the shirts were 50% off at Hobby Lobby and they had 40% off coupons which we used for the transfers. It's not enought to worry about, but don't want to throw out a shirt we haven't worn.

Thanks again
Salli (MOP)

 

[DisneyMom92]

Hmmmm. No I have never tried that. I have re-ironed a transfer that didn't quite stick before. How bad is the color and how big a spot? I might be tempted to try a Sharpie or something similar to see if I could cover the spot. What about an embellishment...a button, rhinestone, something like that?

Just a thought.

 

[momofpirates]

Good suggestions. I think I will give them a try. The spots vary in size. I think I really like the ones on the pirate Mickey heads. It makes them look more authentic. But we didn't get spots all all 5 of the shirts with this design. I'll think I'll try the marker on these.

If I try to transfer over a transfer, I'll let you know how it works. Of course, they all looked great until the vinegar

 

[DisneyMom92]

Good suggestions. I think I will give them a try. The spots vary in size. I think I really like the ones on the pirate Mickey heads. It makes them look more authentic. But we didn't get spots all all 5 of the shirts with this design. I'll think I'll try the marker on these.

If I try to transfer over a transfer, I'll let you know how it works. Of course, they all looked great until the vinegar

You did use white distilled vinegar not apple cidar vinegar, right? That really should not have caused the problems.

Let me know how it works out.