I know we have talked about this, but I am going to ask again. I am in the process of designing a king sized quilt for my DIL and want to incorporate some southwestern images that will be printed out on the fabric itself. I know there is special fabric, but I am going to use batiks in this quilt and while I do want the design to show, I want it to be very subtle and if I use the special fabric, it might show up moe than I want. So if I do just use regualr fabric, what steps are necessary to ensure that the image won't wash out the first time this thing is laundered?
I am long winded for a simple question--sorry about that :!: :D

Vicki, I've had pretty good luck printing on fabric so maybe my 2-cent's worth will be of help! You can probably tell that batiks have a different "feel" to them because of the way they're made. I give 'em a really good warm water washing to get rid of any extra resist on the material and to pre-shrink. I iron the batik to freezer paper, then cut the freezer paper into sheets that'll go through my printer. Once the design's printed on the batik, I remove the freezer paper and give the fabric a bath in a setting agent. Retayne from G & K Industries has worked well, but I imagine any product that stops dye bleeding and sets the color would work. I'd wash the quilt in cool water forever after, just to be absolutely sure. Those color-set laundry treatment products might help, too. Good luck with your project!

Is Retayne the same as Bubble Jet set?

Retayne and Bubble Jet Set are not the same. Bubble Jet Set is permanent after the first rinse. Whether Retayne remains permanent depends on many factors like the fabric, the ink, etc.

I experimented with Retayne many years ago until i found the right ratio of water-to-retayne. some of those samples look as good today as they did the day i printed them. So ... OF COURSE ... i can't find my notes. :roll: I've never printed on an already printed fabric. Maybe that's why Leslee's results are better than mine-without-the-math.

someday i'll spend the hours it took to figure it out because it is less expensive than BJS. in the meantime, i'll stick to the BJS because i don't have to do any math and it's less than half the cost of the least expensive pre-treated fabric sheets in packs.

If you have an HP printer, make sure you get the HP formula when buying BJS.