Hi, am making a quilted wreath and in the center am doing pictures on muslin with inkjet printer. Am using Iron-on stabilizer for Ink-jet printers by Mountain Mist and muslin for material. My question is do I need to wash this muslin first before applying it to the stabilizer so ink penetrates properly.I do know I heat set it after I am done with printer. The instructions only say to pre-treat material. Thank You for your time. Dana

Pre-wash just in case.
I'd like to hear more about the stabilizer you mentioned. Is it supposed to be washable? How does it work?

Hi, thanks for the reply. I had thought maybe I should wash before using the stabilizer. I bought the iron-on stabilizer at a quilting shop. It is a temporarily stabilizer for fabric to feed through an ink-jet printer. You press material on stabilizer sheet then remove after processing picture and can use several times. This will probably do about the same as freezer paper for making material go through the printer. We now have a new printer but the old one we had would not take the freezer paper and material. So will have to see how this works. Thanks again.

Pre-wash your fabric twice, rinse 3 times
Pre-treat with Bubble Jet Set 2000 (per bottle instructions)
Iron out the wrinkles while it's still ever-so-slightly damp
Then use your stabilizer to run it through the printer

Otherwise the ink will all come off in the first wash

When printing on muslin, or any fabrics, I was told to use the cartridge for photos, as the ink is stronger, and does not fade as easily in the wash.

I've read something somewhere that said the photo cartridges lose about half their brilliance in the first wash.

The big "breakthrough" was supposed to be the new pigment based inks. Supposedly more permanent than the old dye based. So I switched to a new printer. I haven't gotten a decent result since. I was beginning to think I must be doing something wrong, although I could swear I'm doing everything exactly the way I used to with the old printer. Until I stumbled across this article on the internet ...

http://softexpressions.com/help/faq/FAQbjs.htm#c82

Pigment based inks are more water resistant, but NOT more durable when actually washed. So, I'm going surfing TODAY to see if I there are any printers left on the market that still use the dye based ink.

I'm so glad I found that article. I was on the verge of "upgrading" to a wide format printer that used the pigment inks. I'd have wasted several hundred dollars!

Thanks for the web sight on bubble jet set 2000 and bubble jet rinse. Found allot of interesting things about printing on fabric as well as washing quilting material. I just ordered the bubble jet set 2000 from Nancy's Notions and now think I will order the bubble jet rinse from this sight, as is cheaper. I won't know how they work until I get them and then will try. I use to print pictures on muslin sheets before and heat set with iron and think I was ok. I see now that I was wrong. Again thanks for the info.

Dana, I just used BJS for my first time, when I rinsed it the first time I lost a minimal amount of ink but it seems to be stable now. Good luck.
kathy

What did you use when you washed your chickens the first time? Did you use the Bubble Jet Rinse or something else?

That is a scary thought to loose allot of the color. I am unsure until I receive them which does what and which to use first the bubble set or bubble rinse. Says the rinse is a detergent also and can wash your quilting fabrics in it and also wash your finished quilts to keep color. Have to wait and see. Thanks for response.

The very first time when I ended up with black and white chickens it was plain muslin, no BJS. This time I had the BJS and rinse, that's when I lost VERY little color. If it's something important it's worth the price of the BJS. It leaves the fabric a little stiff like the pre-treated sheets you buy, but lots cheaper.
kathy

I was in a quilt shop once and noticed a quilt with the pictures done on it. When touching the picture fabric I noticed it was real soft as the natural washed fabric would be. I was hoping the BJS would leave the material this way. I do not like the feel of the pretreated sheets. They sometimes with wear seem to make the picture kind of looked cracked or something, maybe wrinkly. I can't explain what I am trying to say but you probably know what I am talking about. Maybe it was a different kind of material than muslin I don't know. As you can tell I am a beginner quilter. I love it, and am not doing any work outside of home as of now, but still do not seem to make time for it. I am glad to have found this sight and to be able to ask questions from people whom know what they are doing.

I know the iron on transfers get cracked but I'm not sure about these with the BJS, mine will be small portions maybe 4-5 inch squares in a block so maybe not too stiff.
kathy

I used BJS on my Christmas quilts and once they are washed and pressed(Woolite is ok according to the gentleman I spoke with at the Jenkins CO) they no longer have the feel of pretreated fabric. If you look in the *What are you making for Christmas* you can see a picture of my quilt on page 10 or 11.

I'm bringing back an old topic because I'm stymied. With the bubble jet set did you print directly onto the muslin? I'm trying to do a quilt for a dear Blue Star Mom who's son just returned from Iraq and she wants the pictures of his life on it. I don't like the iron on sheets for the blocks, they are to stiff, they crack and peel, I don't lose the color but I want this quilt to make up to Albert his lousy barracks room so I want it to be soft and pliable.

Please help?

Sharon

Should you really be washing chickens? Hmmm... that just seems wrong :):)

the pre-treated sheets in a pack are at least twice as expensive as treating the fabric yourself.

get yourself some nice 200-ct muslin and a bottle of bubble jetset. you can also print on the bargain muslin from walmart but the results are much better on 200-count. (if you have an HP printer, buy the BJS made especially for HP printers.) just treat the fabric according to the instructions on the bottle. it's super easy and safe. although they're recommended, i don't even wear gloves and have never had the least little problem.

either iron the treated fabric to freezer paper or to repositionable sticker paper. if you use the regular full-sheet lables, your picture will get all stretched out of shape when you peel it off the label. run them suckers through the printer and - yes - print directly onto the fabric.

make sure you give the printed sheets of fabric their first wash before you sew them into the quilt. if you've printed on an HP printer, lay them face down on the wash water, then push them in. don't just wad them up and toss. wash them a second time any old way you want. the color left is permanent. (i have never tested the HP BJS, but the manufacturer is very honest so if they say it will give better results i know it will.)

if you have a canon printer that uses the pixma inks you can rinse your printed sheets in plain water! no matter how you wash/rinse them, you'll barely be able to tell the difference between a fresh print and after rinse.

you don't need to buy bubble jet rinse. woolite or any mild detergent will do nicely.

once washed the first time, they feel "normal".

the fabrics in this "block" were printed using BJS.

Hi Sharon. Yes, the BJ2000 is the fabric treatment so you can print right on the fabric (after you stabilize it with freezer paper). I would suggest you go with a fabric that has a little more substance to it (a 'high thread count' is recommended, but i've never been able to find that on the bolts of fabric). I use the Quilters' Cotton or the Kona cotton fabrics. When you hold them up to the light, they aren't as see-thru as the muslins (hopefully meaning they are higher thread count?).

i used it on the block that i sent you, if you want to see how it comes out (the one with printing in the middle that says 'i cannot count my day complete . . . ')

I have just been to a quilt fair here and did a workshop on printing on fabric and they said if your sheets wont go through your printer with the freezer paper on get masking tape on the leading edge by sticking it on half on the paper and half of and then folding over to the other side and sticking it down and then feeding that end through your printer. They also said only handwash your quilts in dishwashing liquid. HOpe this info helps someone.

Joann's sells 200-ct muslin by the bolt. it works very well for printing.

i machine wash my printed fabrics in tide with no problems.

Wow, i wish i could understand this thread, but i guess it doesnt matter right now. When i make quilt labels, i use iron on transfer sheets, because i like to say something special on each quilt, who its too, a date, and aq special scripture verse maybe, and who its from, and say i love you and stuff. But i notice how stiff the fabric labels are from the iron on. I've wondered how long these labels will last. So ive been wondering if i should be writing a label with a permaq pen instead, but when my grandma was in a nuirsing home, all her clothes had her name on them with a perma pen, but after a few washings you could hardly read it any more. So ive really been wondering the nicest and best ways for me to make labels, i dont embroider, it sounds like iron on transfers do eventually crack like how t-shirt decals do, maybe i will have to sometime think about printing right onto fabric like you're talking about here, or find a good perma pen idea, i dont know...confused lol; lol