How to fade to transparency

[Krenzathal]

Hi all,

I'm using PSPx4 for some t-shirt designs I'm making. I import the image file onto a template, edit it and then use various layers filled with different colours to check the images against. When I'm done I make the background transparent and export as a PNG file.

Now some of the images are sourced from the internet and are your basic square pictures which looks a bit cheap on a tshirt so I like to fade edges in and out which I can achieve with various layers and gradient flood fills over the image or a vignette effect with selection tools etc.

Now my problem is that this works fine for solid colours like black but is there a way I can do a fade out to transparency? I thought it would be a simple case of gradient fills then flatten the layers and copy and pasting as transparent selection but it really doesn't work I'm having a bit of bother getting my head around this one although I'm sure there is a simple answer.

Thanks, any info will help.