I'm so mad.... Help with t-shirt please

[SetzKitten]

I am so impressed with everyone's t-shirt designs that I decided to try my own. Everything went well until I tried to iron it onto the shirt. I used Avery transfer paper. The instructions said to put the iron on the highest setting, no steam and preheat for 5 minutes. I did this and did a small test on the inside of the shirt. As soon as I put the iron on the paper, it burned to a crisp, never mind the 3 minutes the instructions said to iron it. I'm talking a nanosecond and my kitchen smelled like burned toast. So I lowered the temp on the iron and tried again. Same results. Tried one more time with the "real" transfer and burned my shirt, the paper and my hand all in one pass. How does this stuff work???? What am I doing wrong??

 

[wldmtnflr]

Can you give some information about the shirts. Did you pre-wash them? use fabric softener? are they 50/50? etc. What about the transfers? Are they for white shirts, dark etc?

 

[Nank]

Oh no you are scaring me. I am ready to do mine this week. I'll check back for more tips.

 

[SetzKitten]

The t-shirts were light gray 90/10 cotton/poly. The transfers were for cotton or poly/cotton blend, white or light color. I thought I would be ok. Maybe I need 50/50?

 

[Not so Dumbo]

on the ones I did the instructions recommended ironing for 3min after 1 min it was done. Remember to keep moving the iron around and not to let it stop in any one place at all.

 

[Costumesaremylife]

I don't know if the directions required it, but putting a pillowcase, sheet or a press cloth of some kind is helpful to keep the shirt edges from burning or changing color while ironing. I don't know why yours burnt to a crisp, I have used an industrial iron on Avery paper and didn't have that happen. You must have a super iron! Does it wear a cape?

 

[goofymom/pop]

I haven't done mine yet but I am getting worried......watching for tips.

 

[SetzKitten]

Well, now that I've had a night to calm down, I pulled the burned t-shirt out of the trash and will test and test until I get it right. I'll let you know if I figure it out.

 

[HayGan]

Are you sure you used the right side of the paper? The paper itself shouldn't have burned like that. It sounds like you might have applied the iron to the actual image sheet. In that case it definately would burn when it touched the iron.

 

[Nank]

I did mine today. It came out great. I didn't go as hot as it said or as long. And I did it on the ironing board with a folded up pillowcase. I missed one corner, but that part was clear/white on a white shirt, but now I know to make sure to get the corners.