Graphic Cotton — Printing graphics on cotton: how | graphicotton.com
From artwork to approved run: the checks that catch cracking, puckering, smearing and bleed before they reach the box.
Every common print failure — cracking, peeling, puckering, smearing, dye bleed — is specified into a job before ink touches fabric. This checklist runs the decisions in the order that catches them, whether the run is 20 pieces or 2,000.
Start with the artwork. Count the colours, because each one is a screen at USD 15-40 per colour per side, and that number fixes the screen-printing quote. Then estimate ink coverage — under 15% of the print area is light, 15-40% medium, over 40% full — because that fixes the DTG price band. A full-coverage black tee and the same artwork as an outline are priced in different bands.
Confirm the fabric next. Specify 140-180 gsm jersey with a ring-spun 30/1 or 40/1 yarn for detailed art, preshrunk at 60 °C to a 2-3% tolerance; expect a 20/1 carded blank to smear fine lines, and an unpreshrunk blank to pucker around the print. Check fibre against method: DTG needs at least 80% natural fibre and a light base, discharge needs cotton or a cotton-rich blend, and poly-cotton needs an underbase for water-based ink.
On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.
Approve a physical sample before the run and confirm the cure on it. Plastisol must reach about 160 °C for 15-60 seconds; an undercured film cracks and peels within the first washes. DTG prints must be heat-set. This is the cheapest point in the whole job to reject a failure.
Schedule production with real numbers. DTG runs are typically quoted at 3-7 days, with an A3 head printing roughly 1.5-2.5 square metres an hour at 1200 x 1200 dpi; screen printing's delay is the setup, not the printing. Then finish correctly: pre-wash print and garment together before sale, because water-based ink raises absorption at the printed area and dark cotton bleeds for the first 1-3 cycles.
Close the job with a wash test. Wash the sample inside out at no more than 40 °C without tumble drying and check it against the expected lifespan — 50-100 cycles for a cured screen print, 30-50 for DTG. The comparison tables at /screen-print-vs-dtg and the fabric specifications at /cotton-fabric-specs give the values each step refers to.
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