I am making a memory quilt for my DIL's birthday. I ironed freezer paper onto fabric then put in through my computer printer. Works good. The problem is caring for it after. I let it dry for 30mins then set the ink with my iron. Next day I experimented and put water on the left side. The ink smeared and the image faded significantly. Is there a way to "treat" the fabric so it doesn't have to be dry cleaned?

i purchased a product that you soak it in and it sets it...it is a liquid.. i believe it was bubble jet set and rinse.

Fabric HAS to be pretreated to retain ink from printers! You need to either buy the pretreated sheets or make your own using Bubble Jet Set. The pretreated fabric is also available in a roll.

There are many sites with info on the net. One I found very helpful was www.breyerpatch.net. Caryl Breyer Fallert has won many awards at major quilt shows and has a lot of free info available.

When I want to put pictures on fabric, I go to JoAnn's and buy it in a box. The fabric is pretreated, has a stiff paper backing and is sized to fit a printer. I think the instructions included rinsing and heat setting. Then I heat set it several more times, just to be sure. If you don't get the 40% off coupons in the paper, or by mail, you can always print one online.

I think I just posted a link pertaining to this....

I have been practicing making memory quilts and have experimented with all products and all methods and have come up with a foolproof method that makes the photos permanent. I use any kind of pretreated fabric for photo printing. After the photo is printed onto the fabric, dry it completely, then mix fabric glue with water to the consitency of heavy to medium heavy whipping cream, take a sponge brush and dab the weakened glue covering every inch. You do not want to make strokes because it will make the colors run. This will never wash out. The glue sets the ink and literally can not ever be washed. You do not want the glue to be too thick or heavy because the fabric will be too stiff. Practice on an old cloth until you find exactly the best consistency. I have used many different kinds of fabric glue and they all work.

I need to make a correction. When I wrote it can never be washed, I meant to say the photo can never be washed out.
After the photos have been treated with the weakened glue it can be washed as many times as needed and the photos will never fade. The glue actually makes the photos more vibrate. The fabric photos after the glue treatment will feel about like taffata fabric and can easily be quilted. When I first started making photo quilts I was disappointed when the photos bgan to fade after each washing no matter which brand of treated fabric I bought. I had made a baby quilt with the babys' photo in the center but as it was washed the photo began to fade. A baby quilt has to be washed very often so I began experimenting. I am making my gdil a wedding memory quilt and will post a picture of it as soon as I finish.

thanks for all the great answers, that is why I like this site so much, Sheila in IL