Can you judge the center of a shirt by the sleeve seams (back of shirt)?

[im_mcguire]

I just printed a job, and though, the picture my client sent me, "looks" slightly off, it is centered with the collar, and the art.

What happened was the shirt was at the top of the box, and without unfolding the shirt, I get a phone call asking why this shirt is off centered?  I saw the picture, and it "looks" off centered , but looking at the center of the art, it is correct to the collar of the back of the shirt.

My thinking is the shirt can still be centered even though the sleeve seams are off.  I mean these are all sewn by humans right?  There are variances and errors in sewing correct?


Attached is the shirt in question, with a line for the center of the art...

[Colin]

Whats even more fun - is when you get garments with side seams - and the side seams twist on you!

It is not uncommon to get shirts in that the sleeves/ shoulder seams/neck hole - are sewn off center....

Its truly challenging when you get all 4 on garments.

[Frog]

Shirts can be made pretty poorly sometimes. Bottom line though, our custies want, and expect shirts that are symmetrical with designs centered.
No easy answer, but it's impossible with some shirts, which should be yanked.
The one you illustrate does not look off to me at first glance. How far are the seams off from the design with actual measurement?

[rusty]

yeah, i've had this happen and usually if they put the shirt on it all falls into place. Often it happens when people hold it up and don't realize the way they are pinching the shoulders. another fun one is raglan shirts... good times

[im_mcguire]

Shirts can be made pretty poorly sometimes. Bottom line though, our custies want, and expect shirts that are symmetrical with designs centered.
No easy answer, but it's impossible with some shirts, which should be yanked.
The one you illustrate does not look off to me at first glance. How far are the seams off from the design with actual measurement?

Im not 100% sure, but with this next image, I think what they are looking at is the distance from sleeve seam to artwork.  When looking at it like that, yes it looks off, but we always go based off of the collar (not neck tag) for this reason...

[whitewater]

maybe tell them to put the shirt on and see if it looks off centered.

[Frog]

Shirts can be made pretty poorly sometimes. Bottom line though, our custies want, and expect shirts that are symmetrical with designs centered.
No easy answer, but it's impossible with some shirts, which should be yanked.
The one you illustrate does not look off to me at first glance. How far are the seams off from the design with actual measurement?

Im not 100% sure, but with this next image, I think what they are looking at is the distance from sleeve seam to artwork.  When looking at it like that, yes it looks off, but we always go based off of the collar (not neck tag) for this reason...

These are the ones that at some point you have to consider irregulars, and deal with your supplier on returns and replacements. How much is off compared to how much is tolerable, of course, is subjective. Collars can be off center. Hoodie pouches are notorious for this dilemna. Center on garment or on the pouch?

[merchmonster]

to me the collar looks off center, and since that is the center focal point, the print looks off center in comparison to the collar.

[Maxie]

Shirt could be exactly centered, I'm sure the pattern they use is.
Sewers sometimes mix size parts by mistake and this can cause problems.
Best was to test is to fold it in half, you'll see if the sleeves sit one on the other and if the collar is centered.

[Prince Art]

It's nearly impossible to tell from this picture. To me, yes, it looks like the print is off-center - closer to one sleeve (right slv, viewers left) than the other (left slv, viewers right). But the shirt itself isn't squared up in the pic - you've got relatively even shoulders and then a diagonal edge at the bottom. And one shoulder might be rolled forward, one could be rolled back. You might be able to unfold, pinch by shoulder/sleeve seams, shake out, and see that it is centered when it hangs straight. Or... not. And if not, the problem could be an assymetrical shirt, as those definitely happen!

One thing I sometimes do to ensure alignment: as my hands are coming back from loading the shirt, I lightly pull the sleeves up & out to see whether the armpit seam is the same distance to the pallet on both side. Combined with making sure the neck (never the tag) is centered, that lets me know I've got it lined up as well as possible.

Another thing I try to do is make sure the top shirt in the box looks "right" before it leaves.   (...though admittedly not all helpers seem to grasp the importance of first impressions...)

[Nation03]

I ask myself a million times a day if it's the shirt or is it me. Sometimes I'm just not sure. A lot of the times, like everyone said, once the shirt is on a person it looks fine. Some people are just over critical. Tell the client it's within the industry margin of error. On second though, they probably won't want to hear that lol.

[CBCB]

Very true about first impressions. Make it look nice in the box and it raises a lot less questions.

In my opinion this print is crooked. Not enough that we would reject, but enough that we’d credit the bad ones back if I got a text like that.

Lots of good points about crooked sewing. The shirt will never be perfectly square.

BUT it will hang off the body square. Gravity is consistent so we try to consider how it will hang off the body.

Like yeah, your neck is in the middle but it will hang over your shoulders kinda evenly.

When loading these pain-in-the-ass garments we use those shoulder seams as visual controls. Sometimes using the lasers on the edges of the design for added confidence when it’s a tight fit like the back of ladies’ tees.


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[Maff]

maybe tell them to put the shirt on and see if it looks off centered.

Yeah it may look a little different on a person then off.  Same thing for being straight  or crooked and especially for front left chest prints, those can go get way off quick. We keep a manaquin at the end of the dryer and usually throw the first print on him to get a better prespective. 

Obviously a bad sew job can throw it all off though..... Never easy!