Printing over the sleeve seam

[3Deep]

I have customer that wants art printed on the far left of the T-shirt and then extend the art onto the sleeve, I know this can be done on a belt printer or a very large press with multi over all print ability.  How can this be done using our regular ole press? and this might be a couple hundred shirts from very small youth to adult 3x and I know it's going to take two different setups either way I go if I print close to the seam or over for the shirt size change. here is my sample art we did/mock up

[jvanick]

Discharge?

[mimosatexas]

Option 1:
Discharge with that corn starch fabric spray on the inside and placed on top of the pallet (hate this process, especially for a two color like what you show).

Option 2: Plastisol transfers (super easy)

[3Deep]

What about printing over that seam?

[mimosatexas]

with either option it won't be a problem.  For direct printing the discharge you will probably still want some foam on the pallet, but it won't matter at all on a heat pressed transfer.

[Frog]

How many Darryl?
Oh, and if I were you, I'd re-title this as "Over the Sleeve Seam Printing" Sleeve prints are a lot easier!

[3Deep]

Don't know Frog it's for a school that has kids from k to 12 could be 2 to 3 hundred or more could be less, but I don't see it being less than 100...If you can re-title it for me my bad

[mimosatexas]

In my experience schools are always budget minded, and this kind of stuff definitely is more labor intensive and will cost more.  Keep that in mind when quoting them.  Also, just sort of my opinion, but that location on the sleeve will mostly be invisible when worn due to the way the sleeve will drape.  Not sure it is worth it to them to pay more for something not very visible.

[Sbrem]

I'm with Mimo on the plastisol transfers...

Steve

[Frog]

I'm with Mimo on the plastisol transfers...

Steve

The pro's for transfers are no special boards, no issues with different size shirts (as maybe the smallest youths will need a re-sizing)
The biggest cons are unlike screen printing, there is no time savings on quantity because of how actual printing is often faster than pre-press.
Transfers are labor intensive, needing to be both printed and applied, whether printed by someone else or not.
I still would probably vote for transfers, but crunch the numbers and charge accordingly.

Maybe a high price will scare them into something easier for you to handle.

[mimosatexas]

Yea, for this size transfers is pretty much twice the work, but a super easy process. 

Side note: The ideal transfer job for me is something like a left chest or sleeve that is 3-6 colors.  It takes overall a lot less time to print 15+ of those per sheet at a time and press them than to direct print (manually), and I usually also toss a couple on hats and koozies as giveaways that sometimes end up as additional jobs.

[3Deep]

Had leave early today so I'm just getting back to read post, transfers is a good idea but this job will go on 2 different color shirts and need a color change, I told them before I left today that we can print very close to the sleeve seam and still give them somewhat of that look, and still have the print far on the left.  They saw this print in some school t-shirt catalog, and wanted me to redesign there mascot into something like it, we've done all kinds of crazy prints in the pass for them, but hey guys thanks for all the advice...I don't think I want to do 2 to 3 hundred heat transfers I'm old and can't stand that long LOL.

[tonypep]

Clean vector art+plastiso w/UB= high probability of fail; assuming you had a half wing pallet. Falls into the "could you vs should you" category. If its a one time shot it may not we be worth it. We, as well as others have. Turned into a niche market with regular revenue stream

[Orion]

Heavy investment of money, time and testing. Looking at going from youth to 3X sizes you more than likely will need at least 3 different platen sizes to do it right. If you choose to take on this project, I would suggest keeping an ample supply of adult beverages and heartburn medication close at hand.

[tonypep]

Agreed. And expect higher than normal quality fallout