# One graphic, more than one garment shape

> The print doesn't change when a design moves between garments. What changes is how much bare cloth sits beside it — and that is enough to make the same artwork read tight on one and sparse on another.

August 19, 2026 · updated August 26, 2026 · https://justog.club/stories/a-design-for-both-garments

Four garments, one graphic. The same cream compass rose, the same size, on two different cuts in
two colours.

Look closely and the print hasn't moved at all. Everything that's different is around it.

## What actually changes when a design moves between garments?

The frame, not the artwork.

Garments cut to different shapes present different amounts of open cloth beside the same print. A
broad, flat panel gives a design ground on either side and it reads as sitting in the middle of
something. A narrower field, or one that curves away sooner toward a higher armhole, gives the
same print less room to spare before the fabric turns.

Nothing about the drawing changed. The rectangle it lives in did.

## Does that mean the print needs a different size per garment?

Not necessarily — it means some compositions tolerate the move and others don't.

A composition with air around it barely notices a narrower field, because there was never anything
important out at the edge. A composition that runs close to full width is the one that feels tight
somewhere else, because the same absolute width now has less spare cloth around it.
[How a chest composition uses its space](/stories/composition-for-a-chest-print) decides
this more than the garment does.

## Which garment should I proof it on?

The narrowest one it will live on, because edges are what get lost.

A design checked on the tightest field is unlikely to fall apart on a broader one — there's only
more room. The reverse isn't safe: something proofed on a wide panel can arrive with its outer
edges cut into on a narrower cut. If it's going on more than one shape, the narrow one is the
test and the wide one is the sanity check.

## Does the artwork need to change at all?

Usually not, and that's the useful part.

Most of what makes a design portable across garment shapes is the same thing that makes it
portable across grounds: clean edges, a strong silhouette and some breathing room. Designs built
that way move without being redrawn.
[The same property that lets one drawing sit on any colour](/stories/line-art-single-color-prints)
is doing the work here too.

## How do I order?

Describe the design at [JustOG](/) — which garment, which colour, and how much room to leave at
the edges. Pick a direction, drag the crop frame, see it composited on the real garment, and it's
made to order and shipped.

Designs other people have published are in the [shop](/shop).

The print didn't change size. The shirt around it did.