It’s week two of our collaborative project with The Pattern Guild which means printing time. The fabric we’ve decided to go for is a lightweight, white jersey – perfect for warmer months which coincides with our late summer/early autumn release date.

The next step is to cut the the fabric into panels ready for printing. Three panels are needed to make each t-shirt; one for the front, one for the back and one to accommodate the sleeves. Printing on panels rather than a roll of fabric means it can be done on a printing carousel and we can take advantage of the great registration that comes with using it. As with any multi colour print this is probably one of the most crucial factors.

Now for the printing itself. We’ve decided to go for water based inks. As we’re covering such a large surface area it will ultimately be a more breathable and softer solution than its plastisol counterpart. Everything is being hand printed as opposed to using the auto carousel allowing us to work with a larger surface area, also printing by hand adds to the bespoke element of the process.

By having the white of the fabric as part of the design we only need to print two colours . The light blue goes down first and this is also the layer with the added clip which you may remember us talking about in our previous post. When the second, darker blue layer comes down this overlap is covered whilst simultaneously preventing any flashes of white wherever the registration isn’t 100%. Once printed the panels go in the dryer and come out a few seconds later ready to be pattern cut next week.

Remember we’ll be offering plenty of chances to win one of these exclusive tees. To be in with a chance make sure you’re following us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for all the latest updates.