Textile Printing Techniques for Beginners

Let's go over some important tips when cleaning a printed garment at home.

First, some types of clothes become more beautiful when they age, but most clothes should keep their original shape and colours for as long as possible. High-quality clothing stays in perfect to good shape much longer than lower quality clothes. Also, proper cleaning methods will help you to keep your printed clothes for a longer time.

Check the care label for washing instructions but it is recommended to hand-wash your garment or instead wash it with the 30ºC washing programme.
Wash clothes inside-out to protect the surface of the garment and its colour. To hand-wash properly: dissolve the detergent in water (max. temperature 30ºC). Wash the garment for a few minutes, don't soak it too long, and rinse thoroughly with water at the same temperature.
In case using a washing machine, this symbol is required. The symbol for a 30ºC washing programme; an extra short programme with low-speed spin-drying.

To keep colour intensity of natural or half-synthetical fabrics: use a special soft detergent. Don't use too much detergent.
Do not clean parts of your clothes, this may cause colour differences; always clean the whole garment. Wash colored clothes separately or with similar colours to prevent colour bleeding and fading. Grease stains on cotton or viscose fabrics are hard to get rid of when using a non-bleaching detergent.

Try this: spray dishwashing detergent on the stain and leave it for a few hours, then wash at 30ªC and rinse as usual.

Here are some important tips to keep in mind when drying a printed garment at home:

DO NOT USE SPIN-DRYING AT ALL! The speed and high temperature will damage both print and garment.
Don't soak the garment.
Dry your printed garments by gently hanging it on a clothes hanger.
Don't hang clothes to dry in the sun; colours may fade and white clothes may turn yellow.

After washing and drying our garments carefully, let's go over the tips to bear in mind when ironing a printed garment at home:

IRONING TIPS
Use a conventional iron.
Check the tags for ironing instructions. If the tags don't tell you which setting to put your iron, then look to see if they indicate what material the fabric is made of. Many irons order their settings by the type of material: e.g. wool, cotton, polyester.
Select iron settings: Low, medium, or high.
Never iron on top of your print or any textile manipulation as you might destroy it and destroy your iron!!!
Do not use steam.
Iron clothes on the inside whenever possible; this prevents any marks.
But if ironing on top of your print or textile manipulation, always use a white clean piece of fabric or use an iron with a Teflon-coated bottom, or use a baking paper to protect your print.
When ironing fragile clothes, always use low or medium heat.

A SHORT BUT SWEET TUTORIAL
Philips' The Art of Ironing