HTV Shirt Decal Placement and Size Tips and Resources

One of the main questions about working with HTV is how to know where to place the decal on a shirt. For instance, exactly what is the correct pocket logo placement and how far down from the neckline should a large centered decal start?

Today I'm going to share some tips and resources that I use when placing heat transfer vinyl on blank shirts.


The first thing I do is find the exact center of the shirt. The easiest and fastest way to do this is to fold the shirt lengthwise lining up the shoulder seams at the neck. Be sure the bottom hem is aligned too.

Then fold the shirt in half at the bottom of the arm pit (the shirt will not be folded completely and evenly in half). Press the shirt with an iron or heat press to create the two creases. When you unfold the shirt the cross hairs mark the exact middle of the (upper) shirt. The vertical line is the most important in my opinion because once you find the middle of your decal you can easily center your design along that line.

For adults, measure down 3" from the neckline along that vertical crease and that's where the top of the decal should begin. For kids, which is what I was working on in this example, I start a little higher, usually at about 2" below the neckline.

If you are adding a pocket-area design to a shirt that does not have a pocket it can be confusing where the design should be located. To find the correct placement, lay the shirt out flat. You want the design on the left side of the chest. So looking at the shirt, at the seam where the right shoulder hits the neck opening draw a visual line down....at the same time from the right armpit seam draw a visual line in. Where these two lines meet is where the pocket down should be placed. It may seem like this pocket decal placement is too far towards the center of the shirt, but any further to the right and the design will start to creep under the arm slightly.

Back designs should be placed using the center crease and four inches down from the center of the neckline.

There are several very useful websites out there with even more specific shirt decal placement tips. Transfer Express has a wonderful page that explains exactly how arm and shoulder decals should be placed along with decals on shorts and pants. I really like their tutorial on how to place split front decals (ie button down jerseys).

Another common question is what size should the decal be. I think it all depends on the size of the shirt and if it will be worn by a child, youth, man or woman. I make children's pocket size decals 3x3" and adults about 4x4" making the design slightly large for XL and XXL men's shirts.

Centered designs for children I typically make between 5-6" and 7.5-9 inches for adults. 123Stickers.com has some good guidelines for design sizes, as well.

Just remember...the cardinal rule of HTV measure twice, press once. And if you do make a mistake don't worry, you can remove HTV with this little trick.

What tricks do you use for placing decals on shirts? Share your secrets in the comments.

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