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Photo on fabric

I've enjoyed computer printing photos on fabric for all sorts of things; potholders, quilt labels and such. While not having quite as much fun as John taking the temperature of his irons, I've tested the bargain brands of sheets and the very expensive ones. A big difference, methinks, is the grade of the weave of the base fabric. Wow. Finally. I've found one that appears to be just perfect. You can press fabric to a sheet of freezer paper (no steam, please), trim it very carefully (no stray threads) and run it through your computer's printer just fine. If you are bent on real perfection, it is possible to double the freezer paper by pressing one sheet to another (turning one sideways). Somebody on Simply Quilts was sure that freezer paper stretches in one direction. I haven't decided that's true but it's sensible enough to consider. The next brutal tests will involve putting one photo experiment in front of a south facing window. I guess I'll stitch one to a dishtowel and see how many trips through the laundry it can survive. The fabric I'm using is cream solid by Kona Bay. I'm not a fanatic about pre-washing but it's probably a good idea for the best possible print results. Don't know if I enjoy spending money or saving money the best but the price of transfer sheets really causes my frugal self great pain. If any of you have thoughts to add to this experiment, speak now. . . or forever hold your peace. Yes. Like that's going to happen. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther
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Do you treat the fabric first? Like with bubble jet set?

Thanks.

Reply to
Lenore L

Polly, how are you fixing the ink into the fabric? I've used the technique you describe more than once, but find that the image just washes straight out.

Sunny

Reply to
Sunny

I'm willing to play Mad Chemist. Anything you think I should try? Polly

"Sunny" Polly, how are you fixing the ink into the fabric? I've used the

and

Lenore asked >

Do you treat the fabric first? Like with bubble jet set?

"Polly Esther" I've enjoyed computer printing photos on fabric for all sorts of things;

Reply to
Polly Esther

Hi Polly, I recently experimented using Bubble Jet Set - so far, I have 20+ fabric sheets ready for printing after treatment and only used about 1/3 of the bottle. The "I love my dog" wallhanging is the first of my projects using home-treated fabric and I am pleased with the results. My lqs was selling 2 types of 'ready-to-dye' fabric and I bought both for testing purposes: one, they were recommending for label making and this was a dollar cheaper, whiter and finer than the other which was cream coloured (I didn't make note of the manufacturers but both were name-brand). I did find that there was a slight aroma to the Bubble Jet solution which didn't cause me too much trouble considering my environmental allergy situation. One tip regarding freezer paper: I ironed the paper to the fabric sheets using a very hard surface (a piece of scrap melamine shelving material) - I found this created a good bond and had no trouble feeding the sheet through the printer.

I didn't prewash the fabric before soaking it in the solution - I did cut it to printer paper size to maximize the number of sheets per metre of fabric; cut the freezer paper sheets - weighted them to stop the curl - the fabric sheets were air drying during this step and finished using a hair dryer when I was ready to press them to the freezer paper - I have a large number of sheets ready now for printing and playing.

After printing, the photo fabric has to be gently washed to remove any residual solution and I have used a liquid hand soap for this purpose although I do have a bottle of Bubble Jet Rinse for the day when I have a large number of photo sheets to prepare.

The company that makes Bubble Jet products also retails treated fabric by the yard which is a consideration for the non-mad-chemist as well as packages of pre-cut and treated fabric sheets.

I have more play> I'm willing to play Mad Chemist. Anything you think I should try? Polly >

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Reply to
jennellh

Oh great, Jennell, thank you. I was hoping to avoid a trip to ToysRUs to choose a chemistry set. Thank you for sharing your research with us. Bubble Jet is next on my list for experimenting. Polly

"jennellh" Hi Polly, I recently experimented using Bubble Jet Set - so far, I

Reply to
Polly Esther

Do you use any product like Bubble Jet Set to pretreat the cloth so as to "fix" the ink?

Jane in cold & rainy NE Ohio

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Reply to
Jane Kay

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