4 Reasons to Not Prewash Apparel Before Applying Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV) in Your Craft Business
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To prewash or not to prewash before you apply heat transfer vinyl (HTV)… that is the question.
If you are making and selling shirts or other apparel in your Silhouette or Cricut craft business, you may receive conflicting advice. I hear this is often disputed in the sewing world, too.
I say no prewashing apparel before embellishing it.
Below, I’ve listed my four reasons.
Table of Contents
4 Reasons to Not Prewash Apparel Before Applying Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV)
After Washing, Shirts Become Used – Not New
Shirts that have been washed feel different than shirts that haven’t been washed. Customers expect a brand new item when purchasing. Similarly, prewashing can lead to shrinking.
Most Manufacturers Don’t Recommend It
Most manufacturers note that there is no reason to prewash a shirt before applying heat transfer vinyl (HTV) to it.
The only manufacturer that recommends prewashing your garment is Cricut. And honestly, I have no idea why they have this recommendation. They elude in the screenshot below to not getting a strong adhesion if not washed. Honestly, if your heat transfer material is not sticking, you have either a temperature, time, or pressure issue.
Cricut says:
Siser says:
Customers May Have Allergies or Sensitivities
Many people are allergic or sensitive to dyes and fragrances. Even if you opt to use a fragrance free or dye free detergent, you can not guarantee your customer won’t have an allergic reaction. To prevent these issues, skip prewashing.
It’s Time Consuming
I don’t know about you, but I have enough laundry to do with 4 kids, a husband, and a few dogs. Honestly, the last thing I need is more laundry.
Pre-pressing
While I recommend you don’t prewash, I do recommend you pre-press. Pre-pressing (which means to iron or use your heat press on your blank before you apply the heat transfer vinyl design) removes wrinkles and moisture and shrinks the material.
Pre-pressing is recommended for most materials.
Tell me in the comments: Do you pre wash apparel before embellishing?
Since 2015, Christine Schinagl has been helping crafters start and run craft businesses through her blog, Cutting for Business. As a Silhouette and Cricut crafter herself, she has a unique take on what works and what doesn’t work in the craft business world. She also enjoys teaching other crafters how to create digital SVG designs, available through the Design with Me series.
Can email your source to purchase t shirts at a wholesale price .. I have an order to make some t shirts this week
Here’s a link: https://cuttingforbusiness.com/2016/05/19/buy-tee-shirts-silhouette-cricut-crafting/
Great post Christine! I’ve only prewashed for myself or my family & that’s cause I’m known to shrink anything…. and I do mean anything, unless I’m actually trying to shrink it – lol. But for others, I never prewash.
Elly, Ask my husband – shrinking anything and everything is pretty much my specialty! 🙂
These are really good thoughts on this subject.
I have noticed that pieces have come up on my design. Why does this happen after washing. Thanks for the help.
Not enough pressure with your heat press or iron.
I never prewash because to me it’s no longer “brand new”. I wouldn’t want that as a customer, so I don’t do it to mine.
Agreed!
Guilty because I’ve first read that you should because canvases could shrink leaving the vinyl to become misshapened.
I’ve never heard that about washing canvases. I, personally, don’t prewash or ever wash my canvas projects.
Thank You for the post on prewash or not. I have always heard to be sure vinyl will not lift it had to be prewashed.
Happy to share!
For myself and my family and some friends I always prewash with no softener. For customers I dont. I do know tho that heat and bond DOES say to prewash, and I have learned the hard way that it is important to do so. LOTS of the projects I do ate a combination of fabric with heat n bond AND htv. Perfect example recently made a t shirt for my youngest grandsons 1st birthday. Several if the details were heat n bonded fabric and several were htv, and now I am getting orders for the same. I personally am not a fan of just solid colored details on a plain shirt, thus the use of printed fabrics. Just my preferences.
Thanks for sharing!
I also use heat and bond for fabric applique and pre wash the garments. I instruct my customers to wash in cold water and hang to dry for best result. The garments will survive a hot dryer but the applique tends to stiffen. I would love to skip the pre wash for obvious reasons but my testing proves it necessary.
Hello! I am VERY new to the electric cutting community. I just purchased a Brother Scan N Cut and would like to get into making car stickers and iron ons. If you don’t pre-wash the items before you iron on the designs, how do suggest that your customers wash the items? Is there really a market for this kind of thing at craft shows?
Thank you,
Michelle
Hello! You would suggest your customers wash according to the manufacturer recommendations. For example, if you are using Siser heat transfer materials, you would include washing instructions for Siser materials. There is a huge market for embellished apparel.
Have you ever had problems with using store bought shirts like Old Navy? I’ve made my daughter a few and they seem to peel off… this is with not pre-washing. Any thoughts?
No. Peeling is usually caused by incorrect pressure or temperature. Be sure to double check your settings.
Christine…It was brought to my attention in a Silhouette Beginners Group that Cricut HTV does say to Pre-Wash before applying. While I know most of us who sell do use Siser Brand, there are some that use Cricut Brand HTV.
Yes. I did see that and acknowledged it above. I reached out to Cricut for clarification and all they did was copy and paste what their website said.
I actually have a question related to this. I prewashed a shirt I was pressing for myself and noticed the HTV didn’t go on as nicely as it does when I do it on a new shirt. Can the detergent affect the pressing?
Absolutely. Detergents and fabric softeners/dryer sheets can affect heat transfer materials.
Interesting. I can’t imagine why they would recommend it – when major vinyl manufacturers don’t.
Thank you!!! This is the first time I’ve made t-shirts for my club and I was concerned about giving people something that wouldn’t last.
Happy to help!
Hi! I’m so glad I found your blog post. I’ve never heard of a manufacturer suggesting to prewash before pressing but actually saw today where they suggested doing so and that’s what led me to do my own research and I ended up on this post!
I saw where you said to share if someone has come across this so wanted to share what I found!
It’s on the heat transfer warehouse’s website when trying to buy Siser Easyweed.
“We highly recommend that you wash and dry your garments prior to pressing your design. This will also allow the adhesive to better penetrate the garment.”
Link:
https://www.heattransferwarehouse.com/siser-easyweed-12-inch/
Thanks, Kaylie – appreciate it!