Customer Reviews

Avery Personal Creations InkJet Stretchable Transfer Sheets, 5 Pack (03302)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Worked great for me the first time, but I must agree -- **read ALL the instructions FIRST** and follow them carefully. You really MUST have high-quality non-fading ink, preferably name-brand, and a good printer, and a full-size iron. This, like all iron-on products, is intended for fabrics which handle high temperatures gracefully: cotton, linen & rayon. If your fabric has ANYthing that's not these fibers, TEST IT FIRST! High-cotton blends may work, may not. "Stretchable" means bias or knit - not elastic fibers in the fabric!

****I've returned to purchase more and re-read some of the other reviews. To anyone who was talking about "peeling off" or "cracking" images after application - either you're talking about the STANDARD t-shirt transfer material (which is a very thin, fragile plastic) or you've got some serious problems with your iron or technique. This material is powder that is caked onto the carrier paper. The powder is mixed your ink and when you apply it, the excess powder brushes off. If you handle the pages roughly or bend them, the powder will flake off. (NOT peel!) It gives best results with vivid, saturated colors, as you *WILL* lose some contrast to the powder, and to the visibility of the base fabric when stretched.

I've been doing minor arts & crafts stuff for as long as I can remember, so keep that in mind when reading this review. I'm no newbie when it comes to stuff like this.

The short version: If you're printing small transfers - a logo, a word or two, or generally anything that can fit entirely under your iron - then these transfers work reasonably well. They are far from perfect and require a bit of finesse when peeling off the backing. You cannot simply blast them with heat and then rip the paper off. It most definitely requires a delicate touch. Once mastered (it doesn't take that long) you will get acceptable results 99% of the time.

The problem arises when you're trying to do a transfer that's larger than the surface of your iron. This requires you to be EXCEPTIONALLY careful of the application of heat on your material. If you're "too hot" in one place and/or "too cool" in another, and those two places are side by side, the transfer will almost always fail to separate cleanly. Creating even heat requires you to put another shirt on top of the first and just about double the amount of ironing you have to do in order to get it up to the proper temperature, and even then it's a 50/50 chance of getting a decent transfer.

One thing I found out the hard way: Leave yourself a good half inch of empty space around all edges of your transfer. For example, if you're printing a 4"x6" photo, when you print and cut it out of the transfer sheet, cut AT LEAST 5"x7" to give yourself a 1/2" border around all the edges. If you don't do this then the transfer sheet will not peel up cleanly from the edges and you'll find your photo has several ragged edges. By leaving a border you virtually eliminate those ragged edges.

Color quality: Perfectly acceptable. Image quality lands somehwere between photo-quality 24 lb inkjt bond paper and photo-quality matte inkjet paper. Colors aren't particularly vibrant but this has nothing to do with the specific product; it is rather a shortcoming that all inkjet iron-on transfer materials have in common simple due to the technology in use.

Durability: It's not bad. Not fantastic, but not bad. Again, with small transfers that completely fit under my iron, durability was better than with larger transfers. I specifically point to two shirts that I made about a year ago. One has a small (about 3" square) logo on it that is slightly faded but otherwise in great shape. The other has a large (about 5"x7") picture on it that has ragged edges and a few big cracks in it, but is otherwise okay. They're both on the same brand/material/size/type t-shirt so I know it's not a difference in the fabrics.

In summary: If you're patient, follow the directions, and limit yourself to small transfers, these are great. There's very little "plastic" feel that iron-on transfers are known for, and they do soften up more over time. If you're looking for immediate gratification and/or need to do large transfers, this is not the material for you.

The first transfer I did turned out beautifully! The feel was soft unlike most transfers I've used where there is a plastic type feel.

However, the second transfer I did, I had the iron on a little to hot and it was sticking to the shirt when I was attempting to peel it off. In the directions it says when that happens you should iron it some more and keep doing so until it comes off with a clean peel. Not realizing I had the iron on a little to hot, I followed the instructions and ended up ironing it for almost an hour total. Finally I just decided to rip it off because it obviously wasn't ever going to peel off easily at that point. When I did, the transfer left a crust like film on it and had ripped of pieces of my picture. The whole shirt was ruined.

Bottom line, I do recommend this product but with warning. There is no room for error. Follow the directions precisely! Do that and you will be very happy with your creation!

(Note: I only tried these with white fabric. So I can't vouch for the quality of use on darker fabrics.)

These are about as good as printable iron-on transfers get. To get the best results, it helps to be meticulous. It also helps to be the type of person who bothers to take five minutes to read the instructions. That said, the results I got were not amazing... you will not get great colors on a t-shirt without silk screening.. CMYK just can't produce particularly bright colors. Consider this in your design and pump up the color saturation a bit. You *will* lose some saturation in the transfer. Also, consider the fabric you'll be using. These work best with lighter weight, tighter weave fabrics. The difference between a 5.3oz (adult t) shirt and a 6oz shirt for me was night and day. The design quickly developed 'splits' on the heavier weight shirt, while the lighter shirt has held together much better.

I would use these again to demo an idea or for something fun... but a great result would require something other than printer ink.

I have made many t shirts using iron on transfer sheets over the past years as a hobby and they have been mostly great. The only problem with iron on transfers is they end up cracking after washing and drying a few times (don't use the dryer, let them air dry).

So I see Avery has a stretchable iron on transfer, I said lets go, looks great. It is the worst product I ever used. I figured out which side to print on and I even figured out how to reverse the image (you do this on the printer).

I did everything it said and that image would not stick to a simple cotton t shirt. I ironed and re-ironed for an hour, let it cool again and again and it was a complete failure. And the little image that did stick was blurry on the shirt. Don't waste your time with this.

I was a little skeptical when I read all the reviews of people having trouble with these. I followed the instructions and ironed the shirt for 3 minutes, and then gave the corners another quick pass. Then after I let it sit for 3 minutes, I peeled back the the paper and nothing lifted. I think the key is to cut the corners into a round instead of leaving them sharp. That allows for a better seal and won't try to lift as much as a sharp corner. I just cut maybe an inch off each corner to round it wand it worked perfectly.

These were absolutely terrible. I ruined four shirts trying to get them to work. Not a single transfer ever came out even when: following the directions, using a higher heat setting, trying different fabrics.

Eventually I tried the normal transfers (that have all the good reviews) even though I was using 100% polyester and they worked great! do yourself a favor and just start off with using those.

I haven't managed to get a single decent shirt out of this pack. It starts off bad when Avery never points out which side of the paper to actually print on, but the iron-on is incredibly fussy will generally require alot of pulling off and re-applying to make sure everything gets on the shirt. And even then the colors are really faded and ugly. A bunch of wasted shirts and ink is enough for me to avoid this sub par product.

The color is crisp and clean after pringing. But beware, larger black areas run/bleed into the surrounding area. Also, use only white fabric, othewise the colors will be significantly more dim on application. Overall cool product if you just need one or a few custom iron-ons.

I bought transfers for "dark colors" and also these transfers.

+ make anything on your computer and easily put it on a T shirt

+ images transfer easily

+ images did not wash off or come off in dryer (compared to dark color transfers).

+ images did keep there shape/quality on stretchy fabric

- images are more faded, especially after one wash, then I would expect. Definitely look like "home made" tee shirts.

Also, I did try these on white and dark fabrics. You do need the "for dark fabric" transfers - these do not work on dark fabric colors.