What Happened to my Red Shirt on the Heat Press?

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This week’s post is more of a public service announcement (PSA) for working with a red shirt on the heat press. A month ago I decided to get a heat press. I wanted to go with a Canadian supplier and decided to get the 15×15 heat press from Middle Graphics.

Since then, I have had fun creating shirts instead of using my iron. The heat press creates shirts in seconds while I literally was spending anywhere up to 10 minutes per item previously using my home iron – not to mention that there were times in which I was literally standing on a chair so that I could use my full weight on the iron in order to create enough pressure to make the shirts.

As you may recall, I have been using my Cricut Explore Air 2 to cut HTV (heat transfer vinyl) to make shirts. You can read about my first experiences here. Since then, I’ve been doing a variety of projects – other shirts, as well as personalizing Halloween bags and Santa sacks. After all that, I finally decided that getting a heat press was the way to go.

Just the other weekend, I was making some t-shirts at the request of a co-worker. They were red t-shirts from Gildan. As mentioned in my post about the preparation of the shirt, I folded it in a half lengthwise and pressed it so that I could visibly see the middle line in order to position the graphic correctly.  Imagine my surprise, not to mention horror when upon opening the heat press after 5 seconds, the shirt was all discoloured! What happened to the red shirt on the heat press? I honestly thought I had ruined the shirt. I thought I must have burned it somehow.

Look at the difference between the two sides – the right side is the side that came in contact with the heat press – you can actually see the outline of the press! What happened to the red shirt on the heat press?

Upon googling the problem, I discovered that this was in fact, not a problem. Instead, it is a common occurrence with a red shirt on the heat press. Don’t worry about it – once the shirt returns to room temperature, it goes back to normal. I have no idea why this in fact happens – nor do I understand why it is only with red shirts but it is true.  Within 10 to 15 minutes the shirt went back to its normal colour. There’s obviously something about the red – this doesn’t happen to other coloured shirts – and/or, I wonder if it has to do with the fabric content of the t-shirt. These Gildan shirts are 100% cotton.

So, assured that everything would be okay, I continued on making these shirts. I think it actually looks pretty awful right out of the heat press – but at least it didn’t stay that.

Look at that – you can literally see the discolouration based on the heat plate. I will say it was quite horrifying to see, but thankfully it went back to normal and the shirt looks perfectly fine.

So I don’t know what it is about the red, but if you are making a red shirt on the heat press and it does this – don’t worry. It will go back to normal once it cools.

Want to remember what happens to a red shirt on the heat press? Be sure to save this to your favourite Pinterest board.