Heat press settings Celsius for UK crafters

Pyjamas

Can you sublimate cotton pyjamas?

No. These blank pyjamas are 100% cotton. Sublimation dye bonds with polyester, or with a polymer coating made for it. A white chest does not change the fibre, and a longer press does not either.

The kids’ sets are 100% cotton, about 200 gsm, with a long raglan sleeve. The top body is white. The sleeves and bottoms are coloured, striped or printed. There is no brand label in the neck. People ask about sublimation because the chest is white and looks like a blank. The chemistry does not care that it is white. It cares that the fibre is cotton.

Why cotton stays blank

Xpres state that sublimation needs light-coloured polyester or a polymer coating, and will not work on cotton or on dark garments. The dye turns to a gas and bonds with polyester. Cotton fibres do not take it. There is no white ink in the process either, which is a separate limit, and it is not the one that stops these tops. These tops fail the fibre test before colour even matters.

The polyester page is where those presses live. Sawgrass list polyester fabric at 205°C (400°F) for 45 seconds, medium pressure. Xpres press polyester T-shirts at 190°C for 60–70 seconds, medium, and peel hot. Using either pair on a cotton pyjama risks scorching a top that still will not show a print. If a test looks pale, the faded sublimation page already names cotton as the first cause. More tape, more time and a second press are for polyester that almost worked.

A stripe or a character print does not make a secret polyester panel. The white chest on those sets is the same cotton as a plain colour-and-white set.

What to do instead

Heat transfer vinyl

A name or a short slogan is an HTV job. Siser EasyWeed, which lists 100% cotton, is 150°C (305°F) for 10–15 seconds, medium, hot or cold peel. Garment Films One Flex uses 140°C for 8 seconds as the standard recommendation. Placement on the chest, stretch and glitter rows, and a general design width by age are on the pyjama HTV page.

DTF

A photograph or a full-colour design wants DTF. Xpres describe it for cotton as well as polyester and blends. Their product sheet presses at 160°C for 15 seconds, light to medium, cold peel, then a second 15-second press. Their general guide says 150–160°C for 10–15 seconds. Garment Films’ FAQ lists a basic range of 140–150°C for 8–10 seconds. Use the sheet for the film you bought. DTF is a transfer you press on. It is not sublimation dye entering the cotton.

A sublimation transfer made for cotton

Some films are sold so you sublimate onto the film, then press that film onto cotton. The dye is bonding to a coating on the film. It is not bonding to the pyjama the way it would on polyester. Xpres already include “polymer coating” in the list of things that work. An ordinary cotton pyjama is not that coated item.

This site does not publish a temperature for those films. Do not borrow 190°C or 205°C from the polyester shirt charts and assume the film uses them. Read the sheet packed with the film, press a spare, and keep the design on the white chest the same way you would for HTV. If the packet has no cotton instruction, it is not a cotton method.

EasyWeed Sub Block

Sub Block is easy to confuse with those coated films because of the name. On this site it is a blocker for polyester that bleeds dye into ordinary HTV, including many sublimated shirts. The published press is 130°C (265°F), medium pressure, 10–15 seconds, hot or cold peel. You can layer other HTV colours on top of it.

That is a vinyl-on-polyester problem. These pyjamas are cotton, so dye migration from the garment is not the problem you have. This site does not give a method for sublimating onto Sub Block, and pressing sublimation paper onto the cotton, with or without a layer of Sub Block underneath, is not a workaround the Sub Block page describes.

Christmas wording and which blank suits a seasonal set are on the Christmas pyjama page. None of that is a sublimation job on these tops.

Common questions

What if I press for longer, or press twice?

A second press can move dye that is still in the paper when the blank is polyester. On cotton there is nothing for that dye to bond with. Xpres say sublimation will not work on cotton. More time adds heat, not polyester.

The chest is white. Does that help?

It helps vinyl and DTF, because you can see the design. It does not help sublimation. The white body is 100% cotton as well. White polyester is a different blank.

Is EasyWeed Sub Block the coating people mean?

No. Sub Block is a vinyl blocker at 130°C (265°F) for 10–15 seconds, medium pressure, hot or cold peel. Siser publish it so dye in polyester does not creep into ordinary HTV. This site does not describe pressing sublimation paper onto Sub Block, and it does not turn these pyjamas into a sublimation blank.

Sources