Have you Ever Created Your Own Printed Fabric For a Quilt?
 

Sometimes I just can't find a suitable, ready made print for one of my projects, so I end up just putting it off. I curious if anyone has ever designed their own print and had it made up?

~ C

Check out www.spoonflower.com

Oh, I wish I could! There are so many things I would like to see.

I've had them bookmarked for years, but I've never used their service. Have you? Anyone else out there that has had some experience working with Spoonflower? What is the process?

Thanks
C

I've purchased from Spoonflower when they have their sample sale. Samples are 8" x 8". I've also used them when I was looking for a "bunny" fabric for a quilt. One of the things you have to watch out for is the size that you're purchasing. Sometimes there is a single image that gets huge, and sometimes the image is reproduced multiple times.
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I'm currently working on a collaborative piece with a photographer/printmaker. He created a digital collage using some of his photographs and then had Spoonflower print it to the size we wanted to work with. He specified quilting cotton for the fabric when he sent them the digital images. Before starting on it I washed, dried and ironed the piece following the directions that Spoonflower included with the fabric. I've just finished quilting it and am getting ready to bind it.

We were both very pleased with the quality of the print in terms of color saturation, how true it was to the original and the sharpness of the image. The fabric quality was very nice and easy to quilt through.

We have also collaborated on pieces that he printed himself using fabric that is designed to go through ink jet printers, but that fabric is a bit harder to quilt through- - I'm not sure why, it might have to do with the way they prepare it, or it might have to do with density of the weave.

Anyway, I can highly recommend Spoonflower for printing your design on nice quality quilting cotton.

Rob

Thank you all for the great tips.

ArtsyOne...did you create the "bunnies" image yourself? Very nice!

Rob, thanks for all of the helpful feedback. In my, "other past life," I was a swimwear designer and I toyed around with ink jet printing/sublimation printing. I loved that I could create my own, engeneered prints in very limited quantities, so that I could test market prints to see how they did. BTW, with the ink jet printed process, it requires that you use a fabric that has a percentage of polyester. That may be why it was dificult to quilt on. Also, the inks can weigh a fabric down.

I'm now retired, but I do miss designing my own fabrics. Ink jet printing has a multitude of problems. I was constantly pulling out my hair, trying to keep the printers in working order. Spoonflower eliminates all of those problems and you don't have to print just on poly. I'm wondering if there are other services like Spoonflower out there.

~ C

Agree! that has been my experience that the home-printer fabric sheets end up being harder.
I have just used them for labels, so have not had quilting problems, but can see it might be a concern.

Did you know?? .... There are different brands with different thread counts, and kind of fabrics used.

It would be interesting to know if other brands/types are softer, and more quilting-friendly.

Does anyone have the answer?

The product I have been using is Printed Treasures - 200 Thread Count - Pima Cotton
There is no mention of polyester, and so, I am thinking this is 100% cotton.

http://www.prym-consumer-usa.com/bra...TEM_NUM=PT-100

There are other brands on the market, with different thread counts, types of fabrics and fabric colours.

What I always wonder is the longer term color saturation. Is there any noticeable fading? Spoonflower talks about it some or I've read it in their reviews. I think some of their fabrics are more colorfast than others. Anybody have any feedback on this?