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I have just made a quilt for my MIL from both the EQ fabric sheets and the Premium brand, the one from here in Australia, neither of them are all that stiff but the fabric is very tightly woven so I wouldn't like to try and quilt it. I have just taken it to a LAQ and she has suggested quilting around each of the photos, I will post a picture when I get it back.
Out of the 2 products I would probably prefer the Premium brand fabric sheets as they are slightly softer and more white than the EQ. But I am happy with both so far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by woody

I agree with you about the sheets. I still would like to have the solution so I can do more than only 5. I can't afford to but too many at one time.

I use Matilda's Own and find it quite good. The backing releases more easily than some others so the fabric doesn't stretch in the process. It comes up reasonably white. I don't stitch through the pics though, just SID. I use it for both labels and on the front of quilts.

Both pics are very clear "in the flesh", so excuse my poor photography.

On front of one quilt

[ATTACH=CONFIG]98170[/ATTACH]

Label on back of another

[ATTACH=CONFIG]98171[/ATTACH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deecee

I use Matilda's Own and find it quite good. .

I haven't hear of this brand but will check it out. The brand of solution that I have is from J.C. Jenkins Company called Bubble Set 2000. They have the pre-done sheets as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marquilt

I tried printing out something today on the inkjet fabric I got from EQ some time ago. The color reproduction was great, and when I soaked it in water as instructed, I was happy to find that there was no particular color loss.

But the fabric itself is so stiff! I had figured on machine quilting the piece in which I intend to use it, but still, no one could hand quilt through this stuff without making a mess of it, and it's so stiff that the usual safety pin basting method creates puckers, and it seems to retain even tiny holes, so I have to wonder what machine quilting is going to do to it. Do any of you know some way to soften this stuff up?

I have the "regular cotton inkjet" fabric (the cheapest stuff *g*), which has a thread count of 200. The two "premium" choices are 240 and 283. Does that mean they're even stiffer?

http://www.electricquilt.com/Shop/Printing/Fabric.asp

If you've used this in your own work, what needle and thread sizes did you use to machine quilt on it? Are there other fabric choices out there for inkjet printing that have a softer hand?

Did you remove the paper backing? I've used everything except printed treasures brand I think and the problems I had had to do with forgetting to remove the paper backing that was there to stabilize the fabric for printing. I use regular fabric and BubbleJet 2000 since I discovered it years ago at the Sew Expo in Puyallup at the HP Booth.

Thank you for all your input! I do wish my problem was just that I had forgotten to remove the backing, but no such luck.

I did heat set it before I did the water soak, even though the instructions said to soak before the heat set, something which I found odd.

I tried a couple of test lines of machine quilting on the edge of it today, and I was right to worry. The machine needle leaves huge visible holes, which catch the eye more than does the thread. I'd be better off stab stitching the piece by hand. *sigh*

Oh well, this was basically an experiment, and as experiments are wont to do, this one failed, except for the colors in the printout being so fine. One tries things and then tries more things - that's part of the fun - right?

I have ordered some of that Miracle printable fabric from C. Jenkins, along with the optimized freezer paper sheets. Checking around at what people have to say about the Miracle fabric, it seems that it has a softer hand. We shall see. If the better freezer paper works, then my problem is solved anyway, I'll just use my own "real" fabric. I've always had trouble with grocery store freezer paper going through my printer - I expect it's just not fused well enough. Maybe because the freezer paper is Very Old? Time to reinvest perhaps.

I'll let you know what happens next.

What happens next is this:

When I tried the machine quilting earlier, I was using an off white thread on the white margins of the printed image. Today I decided to just use the thing as a practice piece for my FMQ. But when I used a blue thread in the predominately blue image, the holes were not nearly so visable.

Life is better. *g*