How to Center Your HTV

How to Center Your HTV on a Custom Shirt

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I meant to post this the other day when I was making all those shirt but time seems to have run away on me! The below quick tutorial will show you how to center your HTV design on a custom shirt.

Or you can buy an expensive gadget from Amazon.

I’m using the shirt design that I have here on the right.

What you need:

HTV – one or more colours
Shirt (S, M, L, XL…)
Design pre-cut and weeded.
Ruler
Iron
Transfer tape

Let's Begin!

Prepare the Shirt

1. Your design should already be weeded and ready to go.

2. Iron the shirt so that it is wrinkle free.

The shirts I buy are pre-shrunk so they do not require a wash before applying vinyl, but it is good practice to pre-wash all your shirts just in case.

3. Fold the shirt in half.

4. Place ruler down the bend of the shirt.

Prepare the Design for Placement

5. Combine all of the pieces/layers of your design together so that they form the final design.

6. If the design has gaps, use transfer tape to hold the design together.

7. Fold in half (lightly) the full design and pinch the top and bottom only. This will leave a mark in the transfer paper/HTV Vinyl carrier sheet. I have placed red circles around my fold marks on the picture to the right. Do not fold the whole design as this will bend your vinyl and make it difficult to align your final design.

Applying the Design

8. Depending on your shirt size (you can check out my shirt size chart here for placement of your design) place the top of the design at the desired locations. In my case, I’m using a Medium Shirt, so I’m placing the design about 2.5″ below the collar.

9. Make sure that you are aligning the folds of the vinyl against the fold of the shirt and not against the edge of the ruler.

10. Stick the transfer paper/carrier sheet onto the shirt. I use my hand as I find the carrier sheet is strong enough to hold.

11. Remove the ruler and open the shirt and stick the rest of the design to the shirt.

12. Your design is now centered.

13. If you only have a single layer, your design is ready to press.

14. If you have multiple layers like I do in this design, you will need to peel away the top layers slowly to leave the bottom portions of the design on the shirt. Once you have done a quick iron and peel of the carrier sheet you are able to apply the other layers. As you have already found the center of the shirt you do not need to find it again. You simply apply the design over the existing design.