Mar 18, 20266 min readCarnival
All-over print is what separates a band kit from a printed blank. Here is how the process works, how to prepare artwork for it, and how far ahead of your date to start.
All-over print is a different process, not a bigger logo
A screen print puts a design onto a garment that already exists. All-over print works the other way around: the artwork is printed onto the fabric first, and the garment is cut and sewn from the printed cloth afterwards. That is why the pattern can run edge to edge and carry on across a seam instead of stopping at the edge of a print area.
Design for the pattern pieces, not the finished tee
Because the fabric is printed flat and cut afterwards, artwork has to be laid out against the pattern pieces. Anything that needs to line up across a seam has to be positioned with that seam in mind, and the design needs bleed past every cut line so there is no unprinted edge once the panels are joined. Send the artwork at full size and in vector where you can. A logo that looks sharp on a phone will not always hold up printed across a whole panel.
Fabric decides how the colour comes out
All-over print sits best on synthetic fabric, which is also what you want for carnival: it is light, it breathes, and it moves. Moisture-wicking polyester takes saturated colour well and holds it. Cotton behaves differently and suits other decoration methods better, which is worth knowing before you commit a design built around deep, flat colour.
Think in kits, not garments
Most bands do not order one item. A kit built around a single artwork (bucket hat, tee, shorts) reads as a set on the road and photographs as one. Deciding the full list up front also means the artwork only has to be prepared once, across every pattern piece it needs to cover.
Work backwards from your date
Carnival dates do not move, so plan against them. Most runs come off the line in 8 to 10 days, and door-to-door delivery worldwide takes another 6 to 10. Add time before that for mock-ups and for a test sample, which is the only way to see the real colour on the real fabric before committing the full run. Starting a couple of months out is comfortable. Starting three weeks out is not.
