Thread: Printing on Fabric -- do you know how?

I have used the pre treated fabric sheets, which have turned out fine, but I'm not sure if my mother in law has washed it yet. (it has been around 2 1/2 years since I made it)
Whatever you do, don't use the iron on type of thing, they just seem to peel off.
This post has some good information Interesting Discovery - Photos on Fabric - Big Difference

Also, most of the prepared sheets require an ink jet printer, not a laser.

There are two ways (that I know of) to do it.

One is to use a purpose made sheet of paper with fabric fused to it - you can purchase these at Joanne's or other craft stores. The fabric has already been pre-treated to accept and retain the pigment from ink jet printers.

The other is to use your own fabric, pre-treat it in a special solution so it RETAINS the ink from your ink jet printer, then fuse it onto freezer paper to print. The pre-treating can be done with a product called BubbleJet 2000 ... there are also some "make it yourself" recipe's online but I was unsuccessful at finding the ingredients so I purchased the BubbleJet.

Now ... if you are only printing with black ink, you *may not* need to pretreat the fabric. The reason is that SOME ink jet printers use dye for black ink, but pigment for colors. The fabric will retain the dye, but not the pigment. You can test this easy enough by making a test sheet with black ink and laundering it several times.

To make a test sheet (un-treated) .. simply fuse (iron) the fabric to the shiny side of a piece of freezer paper. Then cut the freezer paper to a size your ink jet will accept (mine will accept 8 x 5 - some machines will only accept 8.5 x 11). Print the page ... let set at least 30 minutes ... peel fabric from freezer paper ... iron to set ink.

If you need color, the full instructions for pre-treating and post printing handling are on the bottle of the Bubble Jet 2000 product.

Regardless of whether you use untreated fabric (for black only), pre-treated fabric, or the purchased fabric sheets ... DO NOT use on a laser printer. Fabric printing should only be done on an ink jet. The heat of the fuser could set your fabric on fire.

remember if printing letters to (mirror image) them- or they will print out backwards on the fabric.
either prepare for dyeing & use freezer paper or purchase the pre-made fabric printer sheets- read the packages- there are a variety of them = some are washable- some are not- be sure to follow their instructions for the best results.
be sure you are using quality ink- not the refill's.