Hi everyone -

my friend Anamaria, a new and very enthusiastic quilter, wants to have some baby pictures printed on fabric for a baby quilt. Is it correct that the pictures have to be laser printed because you can't wash something done with an ink jet printer? She said she went to one place that told her it would cost her $120 to have 8 photos done.

She'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has had any experience with photos on fabric. Thanks for all replies!

There are treated fabrics for printing in inkjet printers. They have instructions included. You can get them at almost any fabric store or online.

Wow that is extremely expensive. I use the printable fabric you can find in the quilting section at Joann's. It runs through the inkjet printer easily and is machine washable afterwards. It is very easy to work with and won't cost her more that $20 to do all 8. If she has a coupon it will be even less.

I wouldn't wash any of them more than a couple of times, even if laser printed. When I made my avatar quilt, I paid more than $300.00 to have the photos printed, but they were guaranteed for more than 50 washes. I would print one photo out, and then put it in the washer with a load of clothes. I'm willing to bet a bunch that it looks reeeeeellly bad after no more than 3 to 5 washes.

Printable fabric can not be done with a laser printer because the heat of the laser melts the glue that holds the paper and the fabric together and ruins the printer. It can only be done with ink jet. She can either buy printable fabric or prepare fabric with freezer paper on the back and set with bubble set after printing.

Yeah, but even with bubble set, it isn't good for more than a couple of washes, and hand-washes at that.

I just use the Electric Quilt printables through my regular HP printer . Have never heard of any problems with them.

Sharon, have you washed them more than a couple of times? I was just wondering.

I will ask the people that I have given them to . I haven't kept any for myself :oops: You know how us quilters are :roll: LOL

I bought the bubble jet solutions to pretreat the fabric and for use after printing. I wanted to try to make my own fabric sheets. Haven't had the chance yet to do this, but I planned to test some pieces in the wash to see how they would hold up after printing. Will let you know how it turns out if I ever get it done.