Toddler & Youth Shirt Design Sizes (Chart + Rules)
Design width chart for onesies, toddler, and youth shirts — the scale-down percentages from adult designs and collar-drop placements that look right.
Kids' garments are where new sublimation sellers ruin the most blanks, because intuition fails twice: designs need to be much smaller than feels right on the print sheet, and placement sits much higher than on adult shirts. Chart first, rules after.
The chart: onesie to youth XL
| Garment | Design width | Top below collar seam |
|---|---|---|
| Onesie 0–3 mo | 3–4 in (7.5–10 cm) | 1–1.5 in |
| Onesie 6–12 mo | 4–5 in (10–13 cm) | 1.5 in |
| Toddler 2T | 4–5 in | 1.5 in |
| Toddler 3T–4T | 5–6 in (13–15 cm) | 1.5–2 in |
| Youth XS (4/5) | 6.5–7 in (16–18 cm) | 2.5 in |
| Youth S–M (6–10) | 7–7.5 in (18–19 cm) | 2.5–3 in |
| Youth L–XL (12–16) | 8–8.5 in (20–22 cm) | 3–3.5 in |
(Adult sizes continue at 9.5–12.5 in and 3–4 in of collar drop — that chart lives in the shirt sublimation size guide.)
The scaling shortcuts
Working from a finished adult design (10.5-in width reference):
- Youth: scale to ~80% → 8–8.5 in
- Toddler: scale to ~50–55% → 5–6 in
- Onesie: scale to ~40% → 4 in
After scaling, zoom to 100% and read every piece of text. Fine script that's charming at 10 inches becomes an illegible smear at 4 — dye sublimation gains a little softness at edges, and tiny type pays for it. Simplify or drop sub-quarter-inch details on toddler versions rather than pressing and hoping.
Worked example: a family-set order
Order: "Mama" (adult L), "Mini" (3T), matching design, script + sunflower, source file 3300x3300 px.
- Adult L: 11-in print → 3300 ÷ 11 = 300 DPI exactly. ✓
- Toddler 3T from the chart: 5.5-in print → 600 DPI equivalent (extra pixels never hurt); scale factor 50%.
- Text check at 5.5 in: the script drops to 0.2 in tall — too fine. Swap to the chunkier fallback font for the toddler version only. (This is why you keep layered source files.)
- Placement: adult top edge 3.5 in below collar; toddler 1.75 in. On a 3T, 1.75 in is visually equivalent to an adult's 3.5 — kids' shirts have almost no "chest zone," so designs ride high or look like belly prints.
- Press temps/times don't change with size — garment fabric decides those.
The Sublimation Size Guide has toddler, youth, and onesie presets with a visual preview — set the garment, screenshot the spec, tape it above the press. Pricing a family set? Bundle it as one listing to blunt the per-order fees — the math is in how much Etsy takes.
Sublimation Size Guide
Exact design sizes and placement for tees, totes, mugs and tumblers — with a visual preview and printable placement guide.