Here’s an easy guide to get you through the process in Adobe Illustrator 2021.
What is Gang Sheet
A “Gang Sheet” is simply putting multiple images or logos on the same heat transfer sheet. This can be very useful when you need different sizes of the same design. Or You can put several designs on one sheet to save money. You can put as many images as you can in one gang sheet.
The price we offer is simplified to “Sheet Pricing”; we do not charge extra for ganging. Keep in mind that you need to leave enough room between each image, as you need to cut out each image on the sheet for separate applications.
Below is a tutorial for creating a gang sheet in size 11.75”x 11.75”.
Step 1 Prepare your artwork.
Let’s start by opening the design file. Make sure no layers are locked; otherwise, we won’t be able to select any elements. Once it’s unlocked. We can click and drag the artwork.
However, there is a layer of background inside. If you don’t want to have it on your final print. We need to remove it. Right-click the artwork, and ungroup it. Now you should be able to move each part of the artwork. Let’s click the background. Delete it.
It’s done. Now you have a nice design without the background.
Step 2 Create a new file for the gang sheet.
Create a new document. Set the sizes as the gang sheet size you want to order. Here we set 11.75 inches in width and the same for height. Then copy your artwork to the empty page we just created. Select the artwork. Go to the menu bar, click Edit, Copy.
Go to the empty page. Click Edit, Paste. Your artwork will be copied from the original file.
We can see the artwork is too large. We need to resize it. Change the artboard size in the properties panel on the right-hand side of the workspace. If can’t find the properties panel, Head up to window, properties. The size you set here is the same as the print size in your t-shirt.
For example, we want our design to have a 5 inches width. Make sure the “maintain Width and Height Proportions” button is activated, then enter your desired width, here we will use 5 inches. Illustrator automatically scales the width down proportionate to the height.
Step 3 Duplicate the artwork.
Select the artwork and duplicate it. Then drag the new artwork to the right. You can put as many images as you can in a gang sheet, just make sure your images do not overlap one another and have enough space to cut the images apart.
The bottom still has lots of space. It seems we can put one more inside. Let’s have a try. Duplicate one more artwork. Go to the Properties panel. Rotate. Set to 90 degrees.
Perfect! Now the gang sheet is done, let’s save it. Save your image files, we recommend saving them in PDF format.
