Coloring (or in this case, designing) inside the lines has been a print-on-demand industry standard for some time now. While it remains a solid option for showcasing your creative talent, amplifying your brand, or making a state, you’re nonetheless limited to thinking inside the “print area” box. But not with cut and sew printing!
Before you go all-in on cut and sew printing, it’s important to fully understand the differences among cut and sew, all-over-print, and DTG printing. Each process has its benefits but also some limitations that you need to be aware of.
As we mentioned at the start, DTG printing has been the standard for a while. DTG printing limits your design to a specific section on the garment—not so with all-over-prints.
As suggested by the name, all-over-printing allows you to expand your design across the entire garment. Cut and sew printing falls into the all-over-print category, however, cut and sew garments are assembled only after your design is printed on the fabric. With all-over-printing, the entire design is printed on an already assembled blank garment.
Design Guidelines
We’ve added guiding lines directly to the design tool to help create a final product that prints flawlessly.
Keep the main components of your design within the blue line.
— Safe area – Components contained in this area are guaranteed to print.
— Actual product size – Use this line to gauge the proportions of your design.
— Print area – This extra margin accommodates any slight printer adjustments. Designs will likely disappear here but covering this area will help ensure a seamless final product.
Failing to abide by these guidelines can result in less-than-ideal products. Here’s a look at good vs. bad artwork positioning:
Examples of bad and good design positioning on mockups
To ensure customer satisfaction, campaigns that fail to cover fill up the print area or have important design elements outside of the safe area will be taken down.
Pro Tips
- Keep your main design within the safe area
- Fill up the print area with background design
- Avoid designs with borders too close to the cut-and-sew edge
- File format: to ensure your art file is accepted, submit only .png files at a 100 DPI minimum
Ready to launch your first cut and sew campaign?
