How to Sublimate a Christmas Linen Santa Sack

Personalised Santa sacks are a brilliant addition to any Christmas product range. They’re easy to customise, offer a large printable area and can be personalised with names, festive graphics, family designs and much more.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to sublimate a Christmas linen Santa sack using a heat press, including preparing your artwork, positioning your transfer and getting the best results from your finished print.

Our Large Sublimation Linen Santa Sack has a traditional linen-style finish while being specially designed for personalisation, making it ideal for small businesses, professional printers and anyone creating personalised Christmas gifts.

What You'll Need

Before you start, you’ll need:

• A sublimation printer

• Sublimation ink

• Sublimation paper

• A heat press

• Heat-resistant tape

• Protective paper or blowout paper

• Your printed sublimation design

• A blank sublimation Santa sack

For this tutorial we're using our: Large Sublimation Linen Santa Sack

The sack measures approximately 49cm × 67cm, giving you plenty of space for larger personalised Christmas designs.

Recommended Santa Sack Pressing Settings

For our Large Sublimation Linen Santa Sack, we recommend starting with the following settings:

Temperature: 180°C
Time: 140 seconds
Pressure: Medium

These settings are intended as a guide. Heat presses can vary, so you may need to make small adjustments depending on your particular machine.

If you're producing Santa sacks to sell, it's always worth carrying out a test print before starting a larger production run.

Step 1: Create Your Christmas Design

Start by creating your design using software such as Canva, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator or another program that supports sublimation printing.

Popular Santa sack designs include:

• A child's name

• "Special Delivery from Santa"

• "North Pole Express"

• "Do Not Open Until 25th December"

• Initials or monograms

• Christmas characters

• Family names

• First Christmas designs

• Business or event branding

One of the advantages of a Santa sack is its large printable area, so you can be much more creative than you would be with smaller sublimation blanks.

Remember to mirror your design

Before printing, make sure your artwork is mirrored horizontally.

Sublimation transfers are placed face-down against the material, so failing to mirror the artwork will result in text and other elements appearing backwards.

Step 2: Print Your Sublimation Transfer

Print your design onto sublimation paper using your normal sublimation printer and ink.

Make sure you use the correct:

• Printer profile

• Paper settings

• Print quality

• Sublimation ink

Allow the transfer to dry before handling it.

For large Santa sack designs, you may need to use a larger-format sublimation printer or create your artwork in sections depending on the size of your equipment.

Step 3: Prepare the Santa Sack

Lay the blank Santa sack flat and make sure the area you're going to print is clean and free from dust, lint or loose fibres.

A lint roller can be useful here.

It's also a good idea to briefly pre-press the printing area before applying your design. This can help flatten the material and remove any moisture.

Only a short pre-press is needed.

Step 4: Add Protective Paper

Place a sheet of clean protective paper inside the Santa sack underneath the area you're printing.

This is important.

Sublimation ink can pass through fabric during pressing. Without a protective sheet inside the sack, unwanted ink could potentially transfer through to the opposite side.

You should also place protective paper above your transfer before closing the heat press.

Always use clean protective paper for each press to avoid transferring old sublimation ink onto another product.

Step 5: Position Your Design

Position your printed sublimation transfer print-side down onto the Santa sack.

Take your time to make sure the design is straight and centred.

Once you're happy with the position, secure the transfer using heat-resistant tape.

This helps prevent the paper from moving when the press is closed.

Movement during pressing can cause a shadow or blurred edge around the design, sometimes known as ghosting.

Step 6: Press the Santa Sack

Place the printable section of the Santa sack into your heat press.

For our Large Sublimation Linen Santa Sack, start with:

180°C for 140 seconds using medium pressure.

Close the heat press and allow the full pressing cycle to complete.

Try to keep bulky areas such as the drawstring and seams away from the main pressing area wherever possible. This helps the press apply more even pressure across your design.

Step 7: Remove the Transfer

When the pressing cycle has finished, carefully open the heat press.

The material and transfer paper will be extremely hot, so take care.

Remove the sublimation paper in a smooth movement without allowing it to move back across the printed area.

You should now have a bright, permanently sublimated design on your Santa sack.

Allow the sack to cool completely before packaging, folding or adding presents.

Can You Sublimate Both Sides of a Santa Sack?

Yes. Our Large Sublimation Linen Santa Sack can be printed on both sides.

This gives you even more options when creating personalised products.

For example, you could print:

Front:
SPECIAL DELIVERY
FOR
OLIVER

Back:
FROM SANTA
NORTH POLE

If you're printing both sides, remember to place protective paper inside the sack before pressing the second side. This helps protect the design you've already printed.

Tips for Getting the Best Sublimation Results

A few simple steps can make a big difference to the final result.

Keep seams outside the pressing area

Thick seams and drawstrings can prevent the heat press from applying even pressure.

Where possible, position these outside the platen.

Use fresh protective paper

Sublimation ink can remain on protective paper after pressing. Reusing it can cause unwanted marks on your next blank.

Secure the design

Heat-resistant tape helps prevent movement when opening and closing the press.

Don't overdo the pressure

You don't need extremely heavy pressure. Start with medium pressure and adjust if required.

Test before producing large quantities

Every heat press behaves slightly differently. If you're making a large batch of personalised Santa sacks, test your settings first.

Why Santa Sacks Are Great for Personalisation Businesses

Christmas is one of the busiest periods of the year for personalised gift businesses, and Santa sacks offer plenty of opportunities for creating unique products.

The large printable area means you can create anything from a simple personalised name to much more detailed Christmas artwork.

They're particularly suited to:

• Etsy sellers

• Personalised gift businesses

• Craft businesses

• Christmas markets

• School Christmas events

• Corporate Christmas gifts

• Family Christmas presents

• Children's personalised gifts

You can also create several designs and offer customers a choice of fonts, colours and personalisation options.

Create Your Own Personalised Santa Sacks

Our Large Sublimation Linen Santa Sack combines the traditional appearance of a Christmas sack with a surface designed for custom printing.

At approximately 49cm × 67cm, there's plenty of room for presents while still providing a generous area for personalised designs.

The linen-look polyester material can be sublimated and the sack can even be printed on both sides.

Shop the Large Sublimation Linen Santa Sack →

Looking for more products to personalise this Christmas?

Shop our full range of Christmas Sublimation Blanks including Santa sacks, stockings, Christmas decorations, mugs and other festive blanks.

Frequently Asked Questions

What temperature do you sublimate a Santa sack at?

For our Large Sublimation Linen Santa Sack, we recommend starting at 180°C.

How long do you press a sublimation Santa sack?

Our recommended starting point is 140 seconds at 180°C with medium pressure.

Heat presses vary, so these settings should be treated as a guide.

Do you need to mirror a Santa sack sublimation design?

Yes. Your sublimation artwork should normally be mirrored before printing so that it appears the correct way around after pressing.

Can you print on both sides of a sublimation Santa sack?

Yes. Our Large Sublimation Linen Santa Sack is suitable for printing on both sides.

What should I put inside a Santa sack when sublimating?

Place clean protective or blowout paper inside the sack. This helps prevent sublimation ink from passing through the fabric and marking the opposite side.

Can you personalise Santa sacks with names?

Absolutely. Names are one of the most popular ways to personalise Santa sacks. You can combine names with Christmas graphics, messages, dates and other festive artwork.

Shop Sublimation Christmas Blanks

Whether you're preparing your Christmas range for your business or making personalised gifts for friends and family, we've got a growing range of blanks ready for you to customise.

From sublimation Santa sacks and stockings to Christmas tree decorations and festive mugs, you can create a complete personalised Christmas collection from one supplier.