Backing for tee shirt

at my shop we reccommend that you do not print on tshirts. they tend to sag from the weight of the thread and backing

I use one layer of heavy cut-away on the back, and a top cover of water-soluble on the top. I use Sulky brands. Works for me, as long as the design is not overly-large.

Uncle Dannie

threedog said:

I use 2 layers of cut-a-way backing, and it turns out nice, I just think it could look better.

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Look better how? What don't you like about it now?

On 100% polyester i use tear away. On cotton, I use cut away too. No big issue on darks or uniform shaped designs. But I hate it when you can see the backing on lights odd-shaped jobs.

I was doing some reading last night, it said the best stabilizer to use is a no-show diagonal nylon mesh. It says this won't show through white shirts, but it is best for shirts with stretch fabrics, such as performance shirts. It peaked my interest. I haven't used it yet, so I can't speak from experience. But I am eager to try it.

I use polymesh cutaway on tee shirts.
If the shirt is white I will use beige polymesh as it doesn't leave a shadow as much as white does.
Most of the major suppliers have polymesh backing - it is called many different names but generally mesh is somewhere in the name.

One piece of cutaway is fine for a LC design on a 6.1 ounce T as long as the design isn't overly stitch intensive.

What our tech recommended is to always take out some density for T-shirts, particularly on thread heavy ones. What ruins T shirts is when the digitizers put way too many straight stitches before the actual satin. One trace stitch is enough and then it needs to start doing the satin. We have some fonts that it straight stitches back and forth three times before it ever begins the satin and then almost always the satin is too dense, particularly for T-shirts. This just beats the shirt to death and causes it to actually be cut.

A lot of problems would be eliminated if the digitizers would do their homework.