Underlay is to stitching as the foundation is to a home, serving many more purposes than we first imagine: It can level the faceⁱ of an uneven fabric; it can erase the center seam in a six-panel cap; it can give satin columns a toe-hold at the edge to prevent a sawtooth look; it can help neutralize the hue of a garment; it can stabilize the stitching on fragile or stretchy fabrics, creating crispness and aiding registration; and it helps different segments in a design line up or register with each another. On a creative level, it can provide loft to areas of a design helping to change the appearance of the color and give dimension to the stitching.

In previous installments, we’ve focused on designing T-shirt art that is both printable and good looking. Many artists and designers can create art that looks good printed on paper or on a computer monitor, but they simply don’t know the realities of printing on T-shirts. A few mouse clicks and what looks interesting or even beautiful on the monitor becomes a nightmare for the printer, may waste hundreds of dollars in set-up time on press, and may end up a revolting mess when it finally hits the garment.

As this series is dedicated to a new sort of designer with the ability to engineer T-shirt art through a knowledge of printing on garments based on hands-on experience, we focus this month on Print Architect Brian Lessard.

Appropriate safelights, transport racks, utilities, tools and equipment must be considered for every stop along the screen-making loop, along with sufficient space in which to utilize these resources.
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There was a time when the author thought a laser-alignment system was an unnecessary frill.