lining up shirts on the dang pallet

Are you screen printing? I draw a center line down my palet and center up the shirts with that, then I eyeball to make sure I'm as close to center as I can be. Sometimes I have to get out the ruler and measure them, too.

yeah, silk screen. i can get the shirt lined up left to right pretty well, but i get some tilt, if you know what i mean. it's just hard for me to tell looking at a shirt on the pallet if it's on there straight.

Buy a 24" t-square with inches find the center of your pallet (width) draw a line to mark the center. When you load your shirt do it so that the shoulder seams touch the end of the pallet. Then grab the top of the shoulders and slowly pull back evenly. Watch your center crease so that it is over your center line.


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Do a registration marker on top and bottom of your artwork. So when you burn your screen you will have something to measure the centerline drawn on your pallet. If your still crooked you may need to make sure brakets on your pallet and squared off corretly. Might just be something else making you printing come out crooked.

I do the line down the center of the platen, then I also cut a small notch on the centerline on the press side. That way, when I line up the center crease I can match it to the line on the neck, and can feel the center through the shirt to line it up on the hem.

It makes things quicker, but practice is the most important component. Don't ever print a shirt until you are 100% sure it's straight and centered within 1/4", even if you have to take out the ruler and spend a minute making sure. I'd rather slow down production than toss junk garments any day.

what sort of press are you using? make sure the pallet is steady, and get some sticky spray to hold down the tee. good luck!

My pallet is steady, and I have the art and screen lined up, it's just actually putting the shirts on the pallet that I suck at.

When you say line up the center crease, do you mean you have a crease down the center of the shirt? I thought about trying to do that, as I can see how it would help.

I do the lining up the shoulder stitching, and get the sleeves even as I can eye it on the sides, but I still just have trouble judging the actual center of the shirt and if the bottom of the shirt is centered as well as the top!

This is how I do it:

Hold the shirt by the hem, close to the sides

Pull the shirt over the platen keeping your hands parallel, try not to allow it to come into direct contact with the tacked surface

Pull the shirt on all the way- until you've pulled the shoulder seams right against the back of the platen. If the neck hole is not lined up to the platen centre line, repeat the process. Lower the shirt to the platen surface at this point.

Gripping the shirt by the corners of the shoulder seams, pull the shirt back to the desired position, ensuring the centre line of the platen is centred to the neck hole.