Printing on Fabric
...an experiment


See Below -- My experiment was a wash-out!
also...have other's experiment

Thank you, Fons & Porter and info-eq!  I remembered seeing a "Quilting with Fons & Porter" show on PBS about printing on fabric which required the fabric to be saturated with Downy Fabric Softener so that it could withstand washing without the ink fading or disappearing. They used an HP printer.  I have an HP 882c (which I love) and I could buy Downy at the grocery store.  But, I couldn't remember the "recipe" for the "fabric soak".  So, I wrote to info-eq and very quickly got back responses from quilters who remembered the show and the "recipe".  I want to share what I learned with you.

Fabric I used pre-washed 100% cotton muslin.  Cut into 9 ¼" x 11 3/4" pieces.  Fabric will ravel when rinsed in washing machine, so it is best to cut bigger than the required 8½" x 11".  Muslin will ravel more than designer fabric.
I also experimented with a 100% cotton designer fabric, tone on tone, neutral.  I want to thank a "special friend" for the beautiful fabric!  ;-)
Recipe Half Downy Ultra Fabric softener (concentrated, no scent) and half water.
I couldn't find Downy Ultra Fabric softener (concentrated, no scent) at my local grocery store.  All the Downy bottles had new labels. Bought the store-brand "ultra" -- Publix Ultra Fabric softener...and had to get Spring Time Fresh scent fragrance, as they did not have a "no scent".
I used a clean glass peanut butter jar, 18 oz. size to mix the softener and water.  The jar held 1 cup of fabric softener and 1 cup water -- plenty room to mix the contents.
Soak I used my big teflon coated roasting pan for the soaking.  It held the 9 ¼" x 11 3/4" pieces of fabric - flat.  Laid one piece of fabric in pan.  Poured the recipe, about ½ cup over fabric.  You will find that you will have to swish the recipe, with your fingers, over the fabric.  The recipe does not seem to want to absorb into the fabric like water does.  I turned the fabric over.  Laid another piece of fabric on top -- swished some more.  Turned the fabric stack over.  Repeat this process for as many sheets of fabric that you want to do.  Swish and turn pile over so that all is saturated with the recipe.
Add more recipe as needed.  
Let soak for 15 minutes.  If something comes up, longer soaking is okay. 
Squeeze Squeeze out excess recipe from fabric. I placed the fabric between 2 fingers and slid my fingers down the fabric. Let excess flow back into the roasting pan.
I poured the recipe from the roasting pan back into the peanut butter jar for use on another day.
Rinse Rinse the fabric under running water.  Rinse for 10 minutes.
I rinsed the softener-treated-fabric under running water and then put it in the washing machine and agitated it in the washing machine for 10 minutes in cold water.  Did not spin dry -- squeezed out excess water by hand, between 2 fingers.  The less wrinkles you put in by squeezing, the less wrinkles that will show in finished product.
Dry I hung the fabric pieces on plastic clothes hangers to air dry...did not use dryer.
Iron Iron the dried fabric smooth.  
I used steam iron.  Allow fabric to dry after steam-ironing.
Adhere
& Cut		 Press Freezer Paper to back of fabric, not the other way around. 
i.e. - Fabric wrong side up, Freezer Paper on top -- plastic side of Freezer Paper touching back of fabric.  Iron on paper side of Freezer Paper.
Cut Freezer Paper/Fabric to 8 ½" x 11".
Press Freezer Paper/Fabric again, to make sure all edges are adhered.
Try not to "over-handle" the Freezer Paper/Fabric as the edges will fray if you do.
Allow to cool.
Make a
document		 Using a DeskTop Publishing program such as PrintMaster, Microsoft Publishing or MS Word, etc, make a document with a quilt, block, label, graphic or whatever you want to print.  Make a "test print" on regular paper before you print on fabric.
Print Remove all paper from your printer's paper tray before inserting the sheet of Freezer Paper/Fabric.  Print one sheet of Freezer Paper/Fabric at a time.
Important -- Know which side of paper your printer prints on!
I have an HP 882C printer.  I place the Freezer Paper/Fabric into the printer tray with the fabric side down and the Freezer Paper up.  I used "normal" to print on fabric.
You could use "best", but "normal" print looked okay to me.

I do not plan on washing this fabric after printing, but it is nice to know that if it gets wet or damp, the ink won't run.

I will be washing one of the print-offs, just to see what happens.
12/1/2000 -- see results of one washing, below.

See what I did!
Printed in PrintMaster on muslin
on an 8½" x 11 piece of muslin


Close-up
Printed on muslin - actual block - 3"
The designer fabric (green) is from
Rose & Hubble - Atlantis
Designer fabric (green) printed from
"Stash" available from EQ
I do not have the green fabric,
I just colored the block in EQ4.1 and
printed it on the fabric.

Here it is printed on Designer Fabric
Same graphic, printed on Designer Fabric
Thanx, again, dear friend!
 
Close-up of  block printed on
Designer Fabric.
Actual block - 3"

What I learned from this experiment:
I am totally amazed by printing directly on fabric as opposed to printing with PhotoTransferPaper. The fabric remains soft.  I like that.  Especially when I use the "pillow" method of quilting and have to turn the fabric right side out.  The "cool peel" PhotoTransferPaper was giving me crinkles.

Iron only the fabric pieces to Freezer Paper that you will be printing in one session. The Freezer Paper/Fabric tends to curl up quickly and it might cause some undesirable problems with your printer.

What I will do, differently, next time I do this process:
If I am going to be needing several pieces of fabric for printing, I will not cut the fabric into pieces.
I will cut an 11 3/4" piece of fabric across the width of fabric and "fan-fold" it into the recipe into my roasting pan.  I will cut it into pieces after it has gone through the process.

 

After 1 washing

Printed on muslin.  Washed and rinsed in cold water with Cheer Detergent.
Colored ink faded drastically.   Black ink faded a tad, but is acceptable. 
Pic was taken with washed printed swatch laying on top on unwashed printed fabric.

Printed on designer fabric.
Washed and rinsed in cold water with Cheer Detergent.
Colored ink faded drastically.   Black ink faded a tad, but is acceptable. 
Pic was taken with washed printed swatch laying on top on unwashed printed fabric.


My opinion:
I would only use this process on wallhangings that would never be washed or on labels that would be removed before washing.  The black ink did not seem to fade out as much as the colored ink did.  But, I still wouldn't trust this process to an "all black ink" label.

There will be no more washing of these swatches, as the results were clear from just one washing.

From Kay
After treating the fabric w/ your inst. I printed them  - HP712- let them set for 24 hrs - Heat set them w/ the iron - soaked them in retayne -washed them w/ orvus - rinsed them in cold water - dried w/ hair dryer on hot.
Notice that all of the YELLOW disappeared. Thus changing the orange to rose and the Green to aqua. I will touch them up with pigma pens and use them. The quilts they are going on are really bright and I did want the labels (I made 2) to be bright colors
I think it would be a good idea to use reg. fabric in the color we want and to use Dark ink and colors darker than we want them to be.



From Carole
I, too, have made labels with HP Printer but only wash in ivory clear liquid dish soap. I thought Cheer had some bleaching additives. I also heat set and let air dry for weeks before attempting to wash and mine didn't fade that much. I also have contacted repeat o type brand (refill your own ink cartridges) and they have a pigment based ink in the three colors that you can refill your color print cartridge with. They said they would give me a sample and complete instructions on cleaning and refilling my cartridge. I've refilled it with the black with no problem or leakage but haven't tried the pigment inks yet. I think they would be the way to go if one could loose the fear of something happening to your printer. I think the printer manufacturers scare us because they want us to buy their expensive cartridges. I am going to try it in the future...nothing ventured...nothing gained. Printers aren't that expensive anymore considering what we quilters spend on everything else.

Page created by Pat Tribbey 11/16/2000
Page updated 10/7/2008
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