How does one print onto fabric?
 

I have some handwritten quotes by friends that I want to get onto fabric (probably muslin) and in turn use this fabric to make some potholders. Is there a way for me to do this? I looked online to see if there is a company that can do this but didn't see anything that seemed to fit. There's only about 6-8 quotes I want to do this with so it's not a big job.

There are a number of different ways to achieve your goals. What sort of home printer do you have? I am most familiar with Laser printers, but Inkjet printers can also print directly onto fabric. Was back around the 2000s I used to do a lot of printing directly onto fabric which had been ironed onto freezer paper, that is not even a specialty printer sheet. Depending on what you have as the printer there may be different treatments used.

You can also buy fabric sheets, I find the prices are MUCH lower at like an Office Depot than the quilt shop. Should be large envelopes of sheets in the specialty section. Again, make sure you get the right product for your printer.

Using the graphics of handwritten notes, you might have to reverse the image (part of the print options) to have it turn out ok.

A number of posters here have had very good luck with Spoonflower and similar sites.
https://www.spoonflower.com/

Another option is to find a shop that prints on t-shirts and such. Like a sports trophy shop. They can print on a piece of fabric you take in. They can also size your quotes to fit your needs

I have a laser printer but wouldn't mind buying an inkjet as I often do want to print things in color. It wouldn't be an expensive one though. I've held off on buying one mostly because the ink is so expensive.
I never heard of fabric sheets and just did a quick google. That might work for me. Is there a certain brand you use?
I'm familiar with spoonflower, they have some great options and great fabric. They are probably too "big" for my project as I'm just looking for 6-8 small pieces, not yardage.

Good idea! Thank you. I hadn't thought of this.

The LQS here has the Brother PrintModa fabric printer. They will print for customers for a reasonable charge. The images are amazing, and the text is sharp. Check out the quilt shops around where you are. My friend had fabric printed to match a vintage quilt piece that had gotten ruined. It matched perfectly.

You could also trace the quote onto fabric with a fine or ultra fine permanent marker.
Or trace with pencil, then embroider.

What I do, is set it up in a Word document, print and then trace over a light box.
Or just freehand in your own writing.
My lightbox is merely an old drawer with a piece of plexi glass on top.
Tape the quote and fabric to the plexi and away you go!

I recently had some dtf transfers made at jiffy.com, which I then ironed on to shirts, but would work on any fabric. It wasn’t terribly expensive, and the turnaround time was very quick. You just have to know how to make it a png file.

It has been a while since I printed iron on transfers, but I would not do it again for a quilt. The graphics are crackled and definitely not washable. After that, I always use Spoonflower. They offer swatches at a reasonable price. I once bought a 30 swatch sampler that I created with art pictures and photographs. Used those to make hot pads, etc. Also fat quarters. I have made totes from those! It is a little overwhelming, but I typed the steps to creating a sampler and other actions there. Happy to share.

Thank you so much for your responses! Now I have some more questions.

I've been reading up on fabric printing today and didn't realize it was so easy. At least it looks easy from what I see, I haven't actually tried it yet, so who knows how it will turn out. And it looks like I don't have to buy special fabric which is good because I have fabric I want to use.

My project has changed a little and it's much simpler. It's just one quote I'm gong to be using (that a family member wrote many years ago) and I want to print it onto muslin and then put that into the center of some quilted jar openers that I'm going to make. The quote itself will be about 3.5"x3.5" and the jar opener will be about 6"x6". I'll be making 8-10 total of these.

Question for anyone who knows - should I be pretreating the fabric with something so that the colors won't fade? And if so what do you recommend?

Oh, I just had another thought. Can I double print on fabric? For instance, put the fabric through once and have a background picture print on the light side and then put through again with the actual quote?

One more question - looks like I'm gong to need to buy a color inkjet printer. Are there any special features I should look for when buying this or will any printer work? I don't want to spend a lot of money on it.