How to Make T Shirt Transfers on Mac
By K.C. Winslow
It is easy to create customized T-shirts at home, using iron-on transfers designed on your Mac computer. Iron-on transfers designed for use in inkjet printers can be printed in full color and can contain any image you desire. Photographs are often used on T-shirt transfers, as any JPEG image file can be used for this process. "Preview," the image viewing program included with OS X, is a basic application that can produce great T-shirt transfers.
Step 1
Open Preview by double-clicking on the icon in the "Applications" folder. Open your JPEG image in Preview by going to "File" > "Open" and selecting the file from the browser window.
Step 2
Edit your image so that it has the correct proportions. Look at the size of the iron-on transfer paper and consider the amount of space you want the transfer to take up on the T-shirt. You should not try to increase the size of a small image, as it will result in a poor quality printout. To make the image smaller, go to “Tools" > "Adjust Size.” Enter the desired size, ensuring that the “Scale Proportionally” option is checked off. To crop your image, drag the “Select” box over the part of the image you want to preserve. Go to the "Tools" menu and select “Crop.”
Step 3
Flip the image, so that the transfer will print in the correct direction. T-shirt transfers go on as a mirror image of what you see on the screen. To adjust the image, go to the "Tools" menu and select “Flip Horizontally.”
Step 4
Follow the manufacturer’s directions for loading the transfer paper into your color inkjet printer. Make note of what paper settings the manufacturer recommends using with the computer.
Step 5
Enter the settings for the printer by going to the "File" menu and selecting “Print.” In the print window, press the arrow button to the right of the printer name to open up the advanced print settings window. Locate the pull-down menu at the center of the window that currently reads “Preview.” Select the “Printer Features” option. Change the paper type to the one recommended by the transfer paper manufacturer.
Step 6
Print the transfer by pressing the “Print” button.
Tips
- Image quality is very important. A low-resolution picture will produce a blurry, pixilated T-shirt transfer. Make sure to view the image in the size it will print by going to "Preview" > "View" > "Actual Size.” If the image is distorted, you will need to find a higher quality image.
Writer Bio
A writer from Chicago, K.C. Winslow has been publishing articles relating to health, beauty, travel, crafts, education, Macintosh computers and technology since 2000. She holds a Master of Arts degree in writing from the University of Melbourne, Australia, where she lived for several years.