The Preachers

In itself, the center of a shirt can be determined quickly. You fold it in half along the length, checking that the side and shoulder seams are level and throw it under the press for a few seconds. You then have a nice line across the middle (and your shirt is also pre-pressed in 1 movement). With Berlin Textildruck this is the best deal.

In combination with a transfer on which you have indicated the center with a crease above and below, you can perfectly center your transfers on the conveyor belt on clothing. Take extra care that you put both side seams and shoulder seems perfectly together and fold the shirt nicely flat, otherwise your folding line will not run perpendicular to the shirt.

The Alternative Method

An alternative method is to lay the shirt open and properly align the shoulder seams on 1 straight line. Parallel above that you provide a line along which you can measure perpendicularly. Measure the center of the shirt at 1 point between the shoulder seams and then place a drawing triangle or square or perpendicular to the top line and with the other side nicely along the measured center point. You can now mark a line along the tailor’s chalk along the middle of the shirt. With this method you can also switch to marking the correct height for the design in 1 movement. This method is widely used here for items to be embroidered, because for embroidery in fact no transfer press is required and I can also insert the embroidery frame in the garment in one movement after marking.

Place designs at the same height

How high a design is placed differs slightly per size and possibly per model of clothing. You could just measure x centimeters below the neckline and repeat this everywhere, but you will soon see that the same print appears to be almost at the top of the neck of a large guy with size XXL, while on the women’s shirt size XS is halfway on the back state. Furthermore, experience also teaches us that measuring from the neckline is not always correct.

• Ready-to-wear shirts dare to be crooked and the neckline quickly differs by an inch. If you want the design to always be at the same height and the same size as the item of clothing, you should measure from the point of the shoulder seam. After all, a piece of clothing always hangs on our shoulders when we are wearing it; regardless of whether the neckline seam of your shirt or sweater is not 100% straight.

Exactly how high you place the design depends of course on personal taste, the size of the design and the article on which it should come. If you print on the back of jackets or hoodies, you will try to place the design a little lower so that it falls as little as possible under the hood. In addition, you always slide a little down with the design as the size increases.

Chest logos

Besides ‘just’ centered at the front or at the back, a small logo on one side of the chest is also common. The general rule for this is that you place this left on the chest, unless the left is already marked with a brand logo, pocket or other reasons why you cannot personalize there.