...printing on fabric...

7.10.2011
After my post about my Vintage Circus Pillow I got a load of questions about how to print on fabric...so I decided I'd share my secret...which, by the way, is absolutely no secret at all...but it makes me feel cool to pretend it is...

This is all you do: (the next few paragraphs are taken from a post I did a few months ago...)







*Take a remnant piece of linen (or any non-printed fabric you have...preferably not too heavy-weight) and spray the back with repositionable craft adhesive. BUT, before you spray it, make sure it's ironed well...we don't want any wrinkles on our new snazzy artwork. You can see in the photo above that I didn't quite iron the fabric enough before I printed out my monogram...it's kinda wrinkly...

*Then take a piece of computer paper and lie it down onto the sticky side of the fabric. Press it down so that the entire piece of paper adheres to the fabric...

*Wait for this new fabric/paper combo to dry (I waited about 1/2 hour...I had some laundry to fold).

*Take your paper cutter, or scissors, or whatever you have that gives you a nice clean cut and cut the extra fabric from around the computer paper. You should have an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of fabric/paper left.

*Go online and find some graphics you like and want to add to your art (you can find some amazing stuff at The Graphics Fairy) and download them. Play around with them and resize them to fit on your 8.5x11 sheet of fabric/paper...

then...

*Pop the combo into your printer (fabric side up...or however you need to to get the printing on the fabric side) and voila...instant art!

Now, I was scared at first about putting fabric into my printer...but seriously, it was completely stuck to the paper and the linen was thin enough that the combo made a piece of "paper" that was not much thicker than Bazzill cardstock. No problems at all!

One tip: make sure the design you are printing out is not too lightly colored (unless you're printing on white). I had to re-do mine a couple of times to make sure I got the look I wanted...


One more thing I've learned since I published that original post...do NOT try to wash or even wet your image...I tried this when I was making my circus pillow and I had to start over because my little giraffe's horns were erased. 


OK, I lied...one more thing...please please don't blame me if something doesn't work right or if your printer gets goofy. I've never had a problem doing this, but I can't guarantee that you won't. I'm just pretty sure that you won't...






And there you have it...
Super-easy project...endless possibilities...pretty cool, huh?





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