CUTTING LAYERED HTV

[Guest RBUNKER]

WHEN I GOT TO CUT A MULTIPLE COLORED DESIGN FOR A HEAT TRANSFER I ALWAYS ADD THE DESIGN VECTORIZE AND THEN SEPARATE BY COLOR AND CUT EACH COLOR. PROBLEM IS WHEN I CUT ALL THE INDIVIDUAL COLORS THEY DONT LINE UP RIGHT WHEN I PUT THEM TO THE SHIRT. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG 

[Wildgoose 4,200]

Most things do some shrink and contracting when introduced to the heat. You usually have to design with that in mind. For instance, I do a lot of jerseys with two color numbers. If you just cut the background we will call Black and foreground white and try and layer them so that you get the effect of a white letter with a black trim  things do not usually line up precisely due to uneven shrinkage. Might line up of width wise but not height etc... If you cut the white slightly larger and then cut the black as a compound path with just the outline look and nothing in the "white" area you can layer them opposite and put down the shite first and then add the outline as an actual outline. By making the white hit about the half way point inside the black outline you have some leeway for shrink and when you apply the top black out line layer the actual size of the number is accurate and covers up the overage of the white that you built into it. Hard to describe that clearly. 

The end result is a nice clean two color job that is really only one layer thick which feels better anyway. Wouldn't layer regular sign vinyl this way due to skinny spots not adhering as well but HTV can pull that off pretty easy.