Discuss the various aspects of heat pressed vinyl transfers. Popular and new types of vinyl media, suppliers, vinyl cutters /plotters, press times, quality, how to instructions and more can be found in this heat press sub forum.
hey all-
just wondering if it is possible to heat apply a vinyl product on to such material as flock or polytwill.
i saw this thread Here's what you can do with Imprintables twill cutting package! and was very impressed with this piece of clothing. i read though all of the responses and even saw the way of holding down the flock or polytwill material with a vinyl border, but how could you duplicate that oval patch that had the word 'hockey' embroidered into the center of it?
i wish i could afford a pro embroidery machine but for now that is out of reach. i was thinking of even buying a sewing machine and learning cross or zig-zag stitching to stitch down the outside borders of not to complicated designs and give my products a more pro look. but i don't think with even years of experience i could use the machine to stitch in a word with such precision. so could you heat apply the word 'hockey' ontop of an already applied piece of flock or polytwill?
i know this is not the embroidery forum but could a sub$1000
machine do this stitching?
thanks to all for your time.
If you can get the design digitized in a format compatable with the machine and the sewing field is large enough. The answer is yes, how a job it will produce is another issue. I know this is not a good answer, but the variables you have are real tuff to give a concrete answer too. ..... JB
I used a similar design for the same team but it's just text, bottom layer is the red twill, top layer is Eco Film Plus from Imprintables. I haven't tried putting the vinyl on the middle of the twill, ie like the words "hockey" in the post you are linking to. I've seen posts where people say it can be done, I've just never tried it yet.
I'm not crazy about the way it looks. Once you run it through the wash, you can see the raised edge of the twill underneath the vinyl. Look at the top of the left edge of the J and you will see what I mean.... You can also see that my registration of the layers needs improvement...
Here's what the entire design looked like...
I'm currently trying the design using flock instead of twill as the bottom red layer as well as just using 2 layers of vinyl. I set up a couple of test patterns over the last few days and they are currently getting bounced between the washer and dryer to see how they hold up.
i think it looks awesome. i'm not only one that produces this stuff but loves to wear it as well, and i would wear that proudly my friend.
when you asked me to look at the corner of the j on your finished product, were you worried that the border of vinyl wasn't enough to hold down the twill? that's the only worries i have about this method. i also would be curious to know how small on the type can you go. if it's kinda thin like your typeface in the design, i think that's about the limit right?
i'll search for the vinyl ontop of twill answer separately. thanks tfalk!
[quote=COEDS;296069]If you can get the design digitized in a format compatable with the machine and the sewing field is large enough. The answer is yes, how a job it will produce is another issue. I know this is not a good answer, but the variables you have are real tuff to give a concrete answer too. ..... JB[/QUOTE
thanks COEDS.
i was thinking about making a faux embroidered patch. (i guess).
i was thinking of cutting an oval symbol on a roland gx24 heat applying it to a hoodie, using the roland to cut out the word 'blue streaks' on a heat applied vinyl product and a border for the previous oval in the same vinyl material. then applying both at the same time. so the finished product would 'look' like it was a emroidered patch with it sewn onto the hoodie. hope that makes sense. ever seen it done? or is it even possible?
the question about the embroidery machines that cost less than $1000 was: is it possible to stitch a typeface like the one in tfalk's design with the word hockey see link Here's what you can do with Imprintables twill cutting package! is it possible with such a machine? thanks.
Last edited by miktoxic; June 3rd, 2008 at 12:22 PM.
i also would be curious to know how small on the type can you go.
This is the material that I bought but I don't know if I bought the right one?
Poly-TWILL™ ia a 100% polyester twill material with a thermal adhesive backing. It offers a high quality look for creating custom applique and sewn lettering, and it is used on most pro uniforms. Poly-TWILL™ must be sewn to assure permanent adhesion. Poly-TWILL™ is available in 16.5" width for flatbed cutters.
Features
Thermal Adhesive Backing
Great Polished Finish
Strong and Durable
Adheres to Nylon
Perfect for Appliques
I never got it to cut right on my Roland GX-24. I switched to a 60 degree blade and used enough force to get into my mask that I had to place it on for cutting. I then played with the offset but after ten test cuts, there was always one or two threads left uncut. Just enough to mess up the weed.
I also have a sample of:
SPECTRA™ Super Suede (formerly flock) is a heat transfer material used for computer-aided digital cutting. It can be heat applied to 100% cotton, 100% polyester, and poly/cotton blends. SPECTRA™ Super Suede heat transfer material has a very soft feel similar to felt and gives a raised appearance to designs.
But I have not tried to cut it yet. Maybe I'll have more luck with cutting?
With these materials, I should be able to get a clean test cut right?
LittleDogy, I also have a couple of corners that always seem to not cut completely with the twill. I just weed it slowly and use a razor knife to trim the corners when I get to that point. I've tried both the 45 and 60 degree blades and still seem to get the same results so it's probably something I'm doing. I need to experiment with the offset but I just haven't had time.
Tim, in the example picture I posted, I think I have 2 problems. First is I need to make the vinyl a little bit wider - I think Josh recommends at least .25 inch? Second is my registration of the 2 layers was off so I have a couple of edges where the white vinyl barely caught the underlying garment. Making the vinyl wider would help that problem but I still need to get the registration of the layers better.
Email me a picture of exactly what you have in mind, I can always try to recreate one and send you the pieces. May not be the exact colors you want but at least it would give you something to try. My email is tfalk at cobrapromotionsgroup dot com
tfalk: my questions were raised as a part of the research i'm doing in order to decide what to purchase in my upcoming endeavors. i got into silkscreening years ago (15+) and actually purchased a 4 station 4 color machine about 7 years ago. but i live about 15 miles north of manhattan and cannot afford to rent a storefront or space to put it and the other equipment i would need. so i pay storage on it every month until i decide to move back to ohio where i could rent or buy a house (mortgage) for half the price it costs for renting a 1 bed apartment here. it sucks seeing the marketplace in my immediate area for this product and not being able to use already purchased equipment.
anyways hence given my situation and the need to produce wearables and my budget i've decided i'm leaning towards the vinyl cutter and heat applied designs (already have a geo knight heat press), at least to fulfill my urges to do graphics on imprintabes etc. which i can do in my apt.
even if i did have my roland, i wouldn't ask you to do what you offered. that is more than kind. i really like the look that you were able to come up with. it looks ultra pro and would sell no problems to any sport team i know. since you do both heat applied media and embroidery do you think i should even venture into sewing/low budget embroidery? i've got like $2500 to spend and i'm only looking to do small volume and 1-2 color designs.
where did you purchase your equipt.? i read alot of threads and keep my eyes open in these forums and it seems like josh at imprintables is the man. if he can help out people that aren't even his customers imagine if you dropped a couple of grand with his company.
thanks again!
Last edited by miktoxic; June 3rd, 2008 at 01:41 PM.
LittleDogy, I also have a couple of corners that always seem to not cut completely with the twill. I just weed it slowly and use a razor knife to trim the corners when I get to that point. I've tried both the 45 and 60 degree blades and still seem to get the same results so it's probably something I'm doing. I need to experiment with the offset but I just haven't had time.
The design I cut was pretty detailed but I think I could of pulled it off if I was armed with a razor blade.
I also decided to heat press the material just by itself (without doing overlapping vinyl) to see how well it sticks. I was surprised how well it attached itself.
I couldn't find the directions and I already had the press heated up to 380 degrees for something else. I pressed it for 30 seconds and after it cooled, I started to pull on the corners. After I got a hold of a corner, I did manage to get the design off the shirt but it did take some good pullling to do it.
I can see how the vinyl would seal the deal. And I'm sure the right pressing directions would of helped more : )
Josh was very helpful to me before , I was a customer. I spent money with him and he is still there to help. I know he wants to sell items to the members of this form, but he is a member that wants to help too. I'm saying buy from him yes, but if not he will still help you. ..... JB
Like JB said, Josh is the man when it comes to this kind of stuff, that's where I bought my cutter from.
If you are only doing 1-2 color embroidery, it can be done with a small home sewing/embroidery machine but I'm not sure how consistant it would be. I had a small Babylock for a couple of months and always had a hard time getting things hooped firmly enough so that the design wouldn't walk. we ended up trading the Babylock in on another PR-600 so we now have 2 of them, it keeps everything consistant.
I toyed with buying a small screen printing setup but I really don't have the room for it. I also haven't really found enough of a market for it to justify the cost yet. At least with the vinyl cutter and the heat press materials, it takes up a lot less room and gives me almost the same capabilities.
vinyl on flock or twill? 
