# Fabric for dye sublimation help.



## Xc1992 (Dec 13, 2011)

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum so forgive me if i'm posting in the wrong section!
At my University we have a large scale dye sublimation printer (printing onto the specialised transfer paper, which then gets heat pressed onto fabric through a large scale heat roller).
What I want to do is to put my own digital print onto a desired length of fabric which I would then cut and construct into a tshirt. Now the problem is, that it HAS to have a polyester mix in the fabric, in order for it too essentially stay and not wash off but yet I can't seem to find anything with a polyester mix in, that has a similar feel/drape to a jersey or cotton tshirt. I basically want to do something like this



















which the sites claim to be 100% polyester, but yet having seeing it in real life, it has the touch and feel of a tshirt and not that artificial feel of polyester. Its incredibly frustrating as the staff don't seem to have a clue and was wondering if anyone could point me into the right direction of a fabric? 

Or could anyone advise what other printing method I would need to do, to achieve the desired results?

I've also seen tshirts such as this which are "modal", any idea how i wo

Thanks! 

-


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## Riderz Ready (Sep 18, 2008)

Xc1992 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I'm new to this forum so forgive me if i'm posting in the wrong section!
> At my University we have a large scale dye sublimation printer (printing onto the specialised transfer paper, which then gets heat pressed onto fabric through a large scale heat roller).
> ...


Those are done pressing a premade shirt. People who do this are pretty good at hiding the "void" areas where creases do not get printed. If you notice the top pic on the right sleeve you can see an example of a "void" where the sleeve attached to the body. If you were able to examine the shirt in more deatil there would be voids around the arm pits as well.

Vapor Apparel makes a shirt that feels like cotton.


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## jemmyell (Jan 26, 2010)

Hi,

You can also buy the Vapor fabrics at Conde systems to do your own cut-and-sew since you have access to all the equipment.

Fabrics for Sublimation Imprinting - DyeTrans.com

-James


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Polyester is Polyester and Cotton is Cotton and never the trains shall meet....sorry to say that what you are looking for does not exist....


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## Riderz Ready (Sep 18, 2008)

royster13 said:


> Polyester is Polyester and Cotton is Cotton and never the trains shall meet....sorry to say that what you are looking for does not exist....


Let me rephrase - If you took 100 people randomly from the street and handed them a Vapor Basic T and a cotton shirt of similar weight and asked them to identify which was which 90% plus would have no clue.


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## D.Evo. (Mar 31, 2006)

Riderz Ready said:


> Let me rephrase - If you took 100 people randomly from the street and handed them a Vapor Basic T and a cotton shirt of similar weight and asked them to identify which was which 90% plus would have no clue.



Very true.


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## PhilDx (Feb 13, 2010)

Try searching on athletic performance fabric, that's often a poly/spandex mix.


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## texasjack49 (Aug 4, 2008)

royster13 said:


> Polyester is Polyester and Cotton is Cotton and never the trains shall meet....sorry to say that what you are looking for does not exist....


The Haynes Softlinks were exactly that although they are no longer made. I stll have about 300 in stock that I use sparingly or when I print for friends.


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