In previous articles I have discussed the differences both in cost and quality to print on demand publishing of your t shirts and at home heat press or direct to garment printing. Another hurdle for many people starting out is the software program to make your designs. Well, CafePress has made that hurdle go away, or at least shrink to the point you can easily jump over it. I dove in to the online t shirt design program that CafePress rolled out awhile back. I had been avoiding using it since I paid plenty for my copies of Adobe products and didn't think the quality would even compare. I was pleasantly surprised with this powerful design media. Women's Basic Cami Spaghetti

If you are already a shopkeeper you can get there by going to your media basket where all your images are stored. In the left hand corner just above your images you'll find the Create A Design button. Clicking on that will take you to what at first just seems to be a giant picture of a shirt with a square on it. As you look around, however, you'll find the tools necessary to build a great looking t shirt in minutes instead of hours!

You have the option of uploading an image that you want to put on your shirt or you can choose from a bucket load of designs CafePress has done for you. I typically don't like using generic designs but some of these are really good and I actually recognize many of the drawings as being on shirts in the marketplace that I wouldn't have guessed were done with this program.

There is also a well done text tool for those of you who do text heavy designs like me. There are several font styles to choose from and you can make the text larger, reposition it on the shirt, even slant it right from the text box, nice! You also have the option for left margin, center, or right with your text as well as many of the standard color choices.

There are tons of clip art images, shapes, and text styles so you can give your shirt that personalized touch without it looking like a cookie-cutter shirt. I was very impressed with this easy to use program and I encourage you to at least give it a try even if you already have your own software package you use.

I put together a shirt I was impressed with and am going to load in to my shop in under three minutes! You can actually watch me designing that shirt in a short video I made of the process. Until next time, Happy Designing!

As I make new and exciting discoveries in this business I will continue to keep you up date. My goals are simple, to make a good living in the t shirt design business and to help others do the same. Stay Tuned!