What did I do wrong?

[Bethipooh4]

I am hoping someone here can help me with my shirt problem.
I am new to this, and got brave and made my first shirt for our group of 12 to look at. Its a pirate design(thanks Julia and Nicks mom). I put it on a black Jerzees 50/50 blend t-shirt, washed it, no fabric softener as per instructions. I used June Tailor fusible Inkjet fabric sheet, and followed the directions exactly. We went with this because no one liked the iron on transfer paper cause it left the design shiny.
It came out BEAUTIFUL.
Well, I wanted to see how it would hold up to washing,(cold water, no detergent, flat or low heat to dry) While the actual transfer held up, no cracking or fraying, the design lost probably 50 % of its color.

Am I suppose to be using a special ink cartridge in my printer? I am so new to this. Is there something better transfer paper wise? We all liked the fusible fabric sheets since it was softer and not shiny.

Our only option is to make the shirts, and not wash them till after we wear them for pirate night, and the same goes for the ones we want to make for our boarding day.

Does anyone have any suggestions? What did I do wrong??

Thanks, Beth

 

[Stephieann]

i am not sure if this will help or not. but when i do the "shrinky dink" type printing on my computer the directions tell me to lighten the picture a little due to when cooking to shirk it becomes smaller and the picture darkens. how it does that i dont know....lol...anyway maybe if you darken the picture a little it could make the color a little better when washing. good luck. i just did my first shirt tonight... i have not tried washing it yet. hope i have better luck......GOOD LUCK!!!!!

 

[Steamboat Marti]

My advice is to not wash the shirts after the transfer is on. We didn't wash anything once the transfer was on a clean shirt - we washed them after our trip. Yes, the color faded slightly and I have some cracking, but I don't care because we've already been to the event. I've only worked with the photo transfer paper, not the one you've worked with. I do know one thing - never use fabric softener.

I would wash all the shirts, print and iron and then pack them. Wear them for the event, take lots of pictures and have fun.

 

[Bethipooh4]

Thanks for your help,
I showed everyone what happened, and we pretty much decided to make the shirts, then not wash them or wear them till the cruise...