Gone are the days when do-it-yourself t-shirt personalization meant thin white t-shirts and cheap-looking images. With a printer and an iron, you can transfer an image onto any color fabric with t-shirt transfers made specifically for dark fabrics. We take a closer look at Avery Printable T-Shirt Transfers for Dark Fabrics to see how the quality holds up and if anyone can do it on their own with ease. Read on to learn more about our review of this product.
Image and Color Quality: Bright but inconsistent
We loved how bright the colors turned out using the Avery Printable T-Shirt Transfers for Dark Fabrics. We printed bright blue images with white text. The colors looked great. They were vibrant, and the same throughout the entire design. The blue on the transfer sheet appeared just as it had on our computer screen, and the white text popped against that bright color. The edges were crisp, which is important when dealing with high-contrast images. The biggest problem was the inconsistent color of the image after it was transferred. After ironing it onto our fabric, parts of the color ended up looking different, creating a mottled effect. It wasn’t terribly noticeable, and if you plan to use your item for just a few wears, it will probably be fine. If your image has many varying colors, you probably won’t notice it as much as we did with our solid color image transfer. If you want better transfer quality, we found other manufacturers had better products consistent for transfers on dark fabric.
Ease of Use: Transfer paper and design app were good
Using iron-on transfers for dark fabric requires a different process than those designed for light fabrics. Instead of printing the image in reverse, it is printed just how you want it to appear on your finished product. The free Avery Design and Print program available through its website takes all of the guesswork out of creating an image for transferring. It was easy using the program; we selected the Avery product number from a list of Avery products, choose and personalized our image, and printed it. We could also design our own images from scratch and use the program to make sure that they were oriented correctly on the paper. T-shirt transfers for dark fabric are printed directly onto a two-layer sheet, consisting of the transfer and a backing. It is similar to a sticker sheet, except the transfer adheres using the iron’s heat instead of having a sticky back. After printing, they are ironed on face up. We cut out our images and easily peeled the backing off. Some transfers can be difficult getting the backing off, particularly when you have round edges on your image. Avery transfers have precut marks on the backing, making it easy to pull off. We used the included tissue sheets over the transfer and used our iron on our cotton fabric’s recommended setting. We needed more time to make sure that our image was securely transferred. When we went by Avery’s recommended ironing time, we noticed that the edges were still lifting. We put the tissue paper back over the image and run our iron over it for an additional 15 to 20 seconds. We concentrated on the edges, as directed in the instructions.
Price: Expensive for inconsistent quality
If you are using an iron-on transfer with dark fabrics, you will most likely end up paying more for your transfer sheets than if you used the same product designed for light fabrics. For those considering budget over design, using a light fabric will save you money and turn out better. Considering our issues with inconsistent color in the final image, we felt that paying more for the Avery Printable T-Shirt Transfers for Dark Fabrics was not worth the added expense. We thought the included templates in the Avery Design and Print program specially formatted for these sheets were great. But ultimately, the quality issues with the final product didn’t justify the higher cost.
Avery Printable T-Shirt Transfers for Dark Fabrics vs. Printworks Dark T-Shirt Transfers
There are a couple of good options on the market that are designed to be used with darker fabrics. Printworks Dark T-Shirt Transfers are less expensive and use an almost identical process. The colors were not quite as bright and vibrant, but we liked how they turned out. The color was more consistent than the Avery Printable T-Shirt Transfers for Dark Fabrics. Printworks is lower-tech, not offering a Design and Print program like Avery. But, you can find an online application that can provide the same process. You need to make sure that your print layout is correct, checking on the sizing and orientation. You can test the layout’s accuracy by printing a test page on a less expensive piece of regular white paper or scrap paper. We recommend this extra step before printing your final image on the transfer sheets. A test page saves you from headaches and money by ensuring that your image is exactly what you want before you use an expensive transfer sheet. If you really like design programs with templates specific to your paper product, then the Avery products may be worth the extra cost. The colors are brighter with Avery transfers, so they are the best choice for a really stand-out image. But, if you enjoy designing your own layout, the more budget-friendly Printworks product is the way to go. While not as vibrant, the color was more consistent. This may be particularly noticeable and important for images with a lot of solid color blocks. The Design and Print program and the precut backing were great to work with when making our own iron-on transfers. But with the inconsistency in color quality, we can’t recommend spending more on the Avery Printable T-Shirt Transfers for Dark Fabrics when other products on the market look great, are easy to use, and are better for your budget.
