[Le fever]

Hi there, wondering if anyone has tried printing/successfully printed on cotton spandex blends or stretch fabrics. I have bodysuits from American Apparel that are 95% cotton 5% spandex that I was hoping to print on. Last week I tried printing on one of their baby ribbed dog tees and it was a disaster. The fabric was too stretchy and the print separated too easily. If anyone has any tips (even if it's 'Don't Do It') that would be awesome!

 

[BradS]

The Rutland Spandesol Clear is a great product to use when you have a job like this one. You can either add it in with your standard inks to improve stretchability or you can use it as a base and add pigment to it to get the color you desire. Keep in mind though that if you do use it as an additive it may cause some loss in opacity.

Brad S.
IconSPS.com

 

[travistxc]

I print on the American Apparel Halters quite frequently (RSA8312)
For smaller images I am able to use my basic white plastisol with no issues (craking / stretching). For larger images I use spandsol as mentioned above. Mine are sold retail for a clothing line and I have yet to get any issues back on them

 

[Le fever]

I can always trust advice from a fellow Travis. The AA bodysuits I'm looking to print on are the same fabric content so that's excellent. In terms of pretreat/settings, are you doing anything differently? Also, are you stretching the garment out to print on it, or letting it lie naturally?

 

[Le fever]

Also, Brad you're adding Spandesol to your DTG inks? How is that compatible considering it's a plastisol compared to the water-based DTG inks? Can it be used as an underbase?

 

[BradS]

Hey There,

Well that's embarrassing. . I thought I was within the screen printing forum. My apologies. Best of luck to you!

 

[OmniPaul]

Travis, any spandex in a blend can be a pain some times. I would try using a medium coating of pretreat, don't go too heavy. Also try backing down the amount of ink used, try 1440x720.

 

[Le fever]

Hey Paul, thanks for the tips! I went lighter on the pretreat and backed the ink down to 1440x720 and then print came out crisp and doesn't crack when you stretch the garment. Granted it still does expand but obviously that's unavoidable. Definitely a good experiment.

 

[OmniPaul]

Travis, nice! Well I am glad you can maybe do something with them now. It also may be a good idea to heat press them twice, real low pressure on the clamp down. Just so it makes contact. That way you will give it the best chance on dependable washing, that is if you are not doing that already.