# I've learned to CENTER the rhinestone design, but how do I make sure the design is straight across (horizontally) on the shirt?



## leapoffaith (Nov 8, 2009)

I got a lot of great help and answers on the thread I started about lining up my design and learned a few new tricks. 

But my real problem, that really makes me crazy, is trying to make the design straight across the shirt horizontally. Like if it has a word at the bottom of the design, I want to make sure the word is straight and not slanting upwards just a bit, or slanting downwards. I can get things in the center of the shirt, but then sometimes it looks straight, and after I press it and hold it up -- it's CENTERED, but it's not straight across. You know what I mean? 

How do you make sure it's straight across? The centering doesn't really help with that. My t-square just drives me crazy. If the shirt is crooked while laying on the heat press or on the table or whatever, then the design won't be straight. 

Is there anyway to make sure your design is straight across besides eye-balling it? I can't figure out what that would be. 

I have a large order ahead, and I just pressed my first shirt. It's beautifully centered, but doesn't look completely straight like it did on the press.

Does anybody have any tips for this, or am I just letting the perfectionist in me make me crazy over things that nobody will even notice???


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

with the transfer on the shirt...and centered...try measuring from the collar line...the seam that runs from the neck to the shoulder...and have the measurement the same ...left to right...should help if the transfer has straight lines either at the top or bottom...other wise...measure from the middle of the transfer


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## SickPuppy (Aug 10, 2009)

Slap a carpenter's framing square on the press for horizontal alignment, just make sure the shirt is on the press straight. You can get one at Wal-Mart for less than $3.00. 

You are never going to find 2 shirts that are cut and sewn the same. Remember all the time you spend measuring is a waste of production time.


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## Austin300 (May 24, 2009)

Not sure it will work for rinestone transfers but I 
fold the shirt in half sideways (neck center through the belly button)
so the sleeves touch
and lay it folded on the press and make a seam
down the middle (vertically) by pressing it. I pay close attention to finding
the center of the neck area and the majority of
the time it ends up folding the tag in the back
pretty dead center. You will need to pre-press the shirt
anyways to get the moisture out and prep the
material.

I take the transfer and find the center by LIGHTLY
folding it together and pinch the top and bottom
of the transfer paper after holding it up to a light
and matching the edges of the design together.

I take my straight edge (Yardstick) and draw a
line down center of the back of the transfer (using the top and bottom
pinched paper mark) and simply
lay the transfer right on the nice pretty crease
I made from the center of the neck to the bottom
center of the shirt and it comes out as close
to perfect as most other methods.

The crease goes away after pressing the shirt
and it takes the guesswork under the hot
press out of it.

I normally prep my transfers using the above method
before I crank up the heat press. I do this with all
the transfers all the way up to the largest that will
fit on 16x20 heat press. Again I don't really fold the
transfer enough to damage the ink but hold it up to
the light and find the center pretty fast by matching
the outer edges of the design. A desktop lamp works
great for this and you can see the design through the
transfer paper to help line it up. 

Once you have that center line established you can
use it with a T-square for the smallest of designs like
small text. The transfer should level on the paper so
it shouldn't be a problem folding it slightly as described 
above.


This sounds complicated but after you get the hang of
it you stop second guessing your work and just concentrate
on production. It gets much easier after a few shirts.


Of course some people can throw them on the press and
move faster but I like to have ours as close to perfect as possible.


Hope that helps.


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## api (Nov 22, 2009)

This is how I do it:

1.) I decided to use a work bench for placing the transfer. I am NOT doing it under the heat press. Working on the bench is much more comfortable and gives me plenty of room for using laser targeting.

2.) Laser targeting is a fancy name but practically it means two very cheap ($30 each) lasers and a few magnets. I installed the two lasers (using the magnets) on the corner of the work bench. This setup gives me a vertical and a horizontal line. Using the vertical line I can center the shirt easily. I don't need any tool; eyeballing is precise enough.

3.) The horizontal line can be moved up and down on the shirt with sliding the magnet on the edge of the workbench. I adjust the horizontal line to the proper position on the first shirt and that's it.

4.) Before I place the transfer, I open the rhinestone image file and check out the (vertical axle) middle point of the image. (I could eyeball this too but it is a little more exact if I know from the file, which stone is in the top middle point.)

5.) Using the two bright laser lines on the shirt, I simply drop the transfer to the correct position. The mylar is sticky enough so I can move the shirt over to the heat press. 

With this easy setup it takes less than 15 seconds to put a transfer on the shirt. If the timer of the heat press is set to 15 sec to heat up the rhinestones, it practically gives me a continuous workflow.

If I could sell as many rhinestone shirts a day as I can finish with this setup... 

We have NEVER had complaints about the incorrect positioning of our rhinestone images.


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## rubyred (Aug 22, 2007)

The easiest method I have found is to measure from the bottom-most left hand corner of the design, straight down to the bottom hem of the shirt. Then measure the bottom-most right hand corner of the design, straight down to the bottom hem of the shirt. The distance of each side should be the same. If not, adjust until the distance is equal.


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## Leg cramps (Feb 9, 2009)

the most important part is starting with your shirt square to the press.once you think you have accomplished that measure both sides of design to edge of press.then measure bottom of design to bottom of press.picture is worth a thousand words...good luck Eric


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## WorthDesigns (Mar 16, 2011)

Leg cramps said:


> the most important part is starting with your shirt square to the press.once you think you have accomplished that measure both sides of design to edge of press.then measure bottom of design to bottom of press.picture is worth a thousand words...good luck Eric


 
Just how we do it! Your right about the image speaking for itself


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## Cathy91722 (Feb 26, 2010)

I was a quilter before getting into this, so I have many many quilting rulers. I have one 3 inch by 24 inch that I use just for placing designs up from the back of the shirt in the back (the sorority orders LOTS of those) I even have a 24 inch square ruler that is invaluable. I would NOT spend the money on these for this purpose, but I had them here already. If you see quilters rulers at yard sales or flea markets...pick them up. Mine are guaged down to 1/8 inch increments.


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## DTFuqua (Jun 26, 2008)

Make a pair of "wings" for your heat press that will run along each side close enough to use as an extended surface and make measuring limes/squares/grids on both of them. Make them wider than any shirt you use and you have a perfect alignment system that shouldn't take more than a couple of seconds to get everything straight and aligned for every job. It will take a little extra space but if you don't have a dedicated place for your heat press, you can make the "wings" as portable as the heat press.


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## riki63 (Sep 18, 2013)

I find the center of the transfer by looking at the image in my design software and just make a mental note of that (ie between the "e" and the "r")


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## My Shirt Connect (Jan 24, 2010)

We fold the shirt in half and heat press. First to remove the moisture in the shirt and second to create a crease down the center.


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## My Shirt Connect (Jan 24, 2010)

Here is the shirt on the press and you can see the center line nice and clear....


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## My Shirt Connect (Jan 24, 2010)

Then we fold the transfer in half to mark the center of the design. At the top we pinch and at the bottom we pinch.


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## My Shirt Connect (Jan 24, 2010)

Here is the transfer on the shirt crooked. You can see the pinch does not match up with the center crease of the shirt.


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## My Shirt Connect (Jan 24, 2010)

So we line up the bottom pinch with the shirt crease...


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## My Shirt Connect (Jan 24, 2010)

Then we line up the top pinch with the shirt crease....


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## My Shirt Connect (Jan 24, 2010)

After heat pressing. The design is perfectly centered. Once you get into the routine it is very quick. Minimal thought required : )


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

We measure across the bottom of the arm pit. Beware that a lot of t's have irregular sleeves. Measure to make sure they are the same size. Then go from where they connect at the bottom of the arm.


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## Pawprint (Sep 17, 2013)

I think you really find out how poorly made shirts are when you try to line up designs. Sweatshirts drive me crazy


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