Printing4 min read
What is a DTF gang sheet? Sizes, layout and how to build one
A gang sheet puts many designs on one sheet of DTF film to lower the cost per transfer. Here are the common sizes, how to lay one out, and how to work out how many designs fit.
By the Quaflow team
A gang sheet is a single sheet of DTF film that carries several designs at once: different artworks, many copies of one, or both. The whole sheet is printed in one run, then the transfers are cut apart and pressed one by one.
Print shops charge for DTF by the sheet or by the length of film. Filling a sheet well is the simplest way to bring down the cost of each transfer, which is why gang sheets are how most DTF transfers are ordered.
Free toolDTF Gang Sheet CalculatorEnter a design size to see how many copies fit on each sheet size, with the layout drawn to scale.
Common gang sheet sizes
There is no official standard. Sizes follow the printers: most DTF roll printers take film that is 24 inches wide and print about 22 inches of it, so roll gang sheets are 22 inches wide and as long as you order. Smaller sheet-fed printers use sizes close to A3 and A4.
| Sheet | Size in inches | Size in centimetres |
|---|---|---|
| Roll, short | 22 × 12 | 55.9 × 30.5 |
| Roll, standard | 22 × 24 | 55.9 × 61 |
| Roll, medium | 22 × 36 | 55.9 × 91.4 |
| Roll, long | 22 × 60 | 55.9 × 152.4 |
| Roll, extra long | 22 × 120 | 55.9 × 304.8 |
| A3+ sheet | 13 × 19 | 33 × 48.3 |
| A3 sheet | 11.7 × 16.5 | 29.7 × 42 |
| A4 sheet | 8.3 × 11.7 | 21 × 29.7 |
Print shops choose their own lengths and often keep a small margin at the edge of the film, so always check the exact size your provider prints before you build a sheet.
How many designs fit on a sheet
Count how many copies fit across, how many fit down, and multiply. Remember the space between copies: each one needs its own width plus the gap, except the last in a row.
Take a 4 × 4 inch design on a 22 × 24 inch sheet, with a quarter inch between copies:
- Across: five copies take 5 × 4 + 4 × 0.25 = 21 inches. A sixth doesn't fit.
- Down: five copies take 21 inches as well. A sixth would need 25.25 inches.
- Total: 5 × 5 = 25 copies.
A design that isn't square can be turned 90°, and sometimes a mix works best: rows of upright copies, with the strip that is left over filled by turned ones. Doing this by hand for every size gets slow, which is what the gang sheet calculator is for.
| Design size | Copies on 22 × 24 in | Copies on 22 × 60 in |
|---|---|---|
| 3 × 3 in | 42 | 108 |
| 4 × 4 in | 25 | 70 |
| 10 × 10 in | 4 | 10 |
| 11 × 14 in | 2 | 5 |
How to build a gang sheet
- Start from the sheet size. Create a canvas with the exact dimensions your print shop sells, at 300 DPI, with a transparent background. A 22 × 24 inch sheet is 6,600 × 7,200 pixels.
- Place each design at its printed size. Scale the artwork to the size it should be on the garment. Don't enlarge small images beyond what their pixels allow: check them first with the print file checker.
- Leave space for cutting. Keep about a quarter inch between designs and stay clear of the sheet's edges.
- Fill the gaps. Turn designs sideways where it helps and use leftover corners for small items such as neck labels or sleeve logos.
- Export a PNG. Keep the background transparent and the resolution at 300 DPI. Don't flatten the sheet onto a white layer.
Mistakes that waste film or ruin transfers
- Designs that touch or overlap. They can't be cut apart cleanly.
- A background left in. A white or coloured canvas prints as one large rectangle of ink.
- Small images blown up. A 500 pixel logo stretched to 10 inches prints at 50 DPI.
- Empty canvas around each design. If every artwork carries wide transparent margins, the sheet holds far fewer than it could. Crop each design to its edges first.
- The wrong sheet size. A file that is 24 inches wide doesn't fit a 22 inch print width and gets scaled down or rejected.
Selling gang sheets or custom transfers online
If you run a print shop, the file reaches you from the customer, and it is rarely perfect. Measuring each upload by hand, checking its resolution and working out the price by size takes time on every order.
That is the job of Upload Center, our Shopify app. Customers upload their artwork on the product page, the app measures the file in the browser, checks it against your size rules, and prices the order by the printed dimensions.