Need tips for printing on fabric...
 

A friend of mine wants me to make a quilt for her daughter... We've decided on a pattern, but the daughter wants pictures printed on some of the blocks. I have never done this before and I've heard of so many different ways to do it from this wonderful board... Which would be best for a beginner... Printing on the fabric or doing the iron on method? They have small dogs, so I'm sure the quilt will be washed often so it needs to withstand that as well.

Thanks in advance for all the advice! The ladies and gents of this board are amazing!

I'm not sure which method holds up the best. Just be sure that, whatever method you use, you use the technique that goes with it. I read about one quilt on the QB where the task of copying photos to fabric was given to someone who didn't use the correct type of printer.

Here are a few links to consider:
http://www.softfabricphotos.com/info/faqs.cfm (need an inkjet printer)
http://cqmagonline.com/vol04iss02/ar...37/index.shtml (need a laser printer)

and here is a link to someone who tried several methods:
http://www.craftpassion.com/2010/07/...-printing.html

I've used both, but to be sure I understand correctly, what is the iron-on material you are considering? I made a family tree quilt and used the stuff you can print on through your printer and then iron it onto your fabric. It took forever to get it all ironed on. I then stitched around each image or leaf. The photos ran when it was washed in cold water. This was a long time ago and the product may have improved since then.

I've used Printed Treasures in several photo quilts and have been pleased with the results. One in particular has been washed several times in cool/cold water with very slight fading. All-in-all, Ive been happy with Printed Treasures. Just follow the directions on the package. The biggest problem I had with Printed Treasures was getting the peel-away paper off the back. I found that heating it slightly with the iron and then pulling the paper very slowly away from the fabric helped.

I'd love to see the quilt when it's finished.

There are several tutes on the QB. I know because I wrote one years ago. You can PM me if you want.

I used 100% cotton, prewashed and no additives or starch or anything else. The ink jet printer is the only one that I know of that does this well. I now don't use BEST printing but one step under that so that I don't have any ink problems, as the ink has changed.

On the net you can find many different ways to use the fabric you want. Just look around.

I made a quilt using bubble set (or some such name) to pretreat the fabric. I then printed it with my ink jet printer after fusing the fabric to freezer paper. To test the fabric for colorfastness, I threw just a printed picture (about 4x4) into the wash with my regular load. I figured that would be the worst-case scenario test--to treat the quilt like a sheet or pants. Anyway, after being washed without any special care, the block survived beautifully--no loss of detail or color.

Laurie