An ink jet textile printing method forms an image on cloths in an image forming operation by repeating a step of applying ink on the cloths from an ink discharge port of a recording head, the recording head relatively main-scanning to form the image in a main scan direction, and a step of relatively conveying the cloths in a sub-scan direction. The method includes the steps of forming the image on the cloths by applying ink on the cloths from the recording head based on image data. The method further includes the step of temporarily stopping the image forming operation in accordance with an indication to effect a temporary halt of the image forming operation. When the temporary halt is indicated while the recording head performs a main scan in the image forming operation, the image forming operation by the main scan is completed, and then the temporary halt of the image forming operation is effected by moving the recording head to a standby position. The method still further includes the step of releasing the temporary halt of the image forming operation and restarting the image forming operation in accordance with an indication for releasing the temporary halt of the image forming operation. When the release of the temporary halt is indicated, ink is discharged from the ink discharge port and then the image forming operation is restarted.