Inkjet Printing on Fabric

Forget about printing on some transfer paper and then ironing it onto some fabric. With some freezer paper you can print right on the fabric itself. No need to reverse the image and it's faster, cheaper, and more effective.

Step 1 Materials List

Cloth? Check.
Freezer paper? Check.

Comments

[Happy Longarmer]

Enjoyed reading all the preceding comments & will definitely try using TACKY or STICKY PAPER as recommended by a couple of you. I have been printing on fabric using freezer paper for several years. I pretreat my fabric with Bubble Jet Set and use Bubble Jet Rinse after printing to fix the ink. These products are available from quilt shops. I use these products to create labels for the backs of the quilts I make and include information about the quilt such as pattern name, why I chose it, type of batting used (wool?), washing directions and sentiments if it is being given as a gift for someone.

Caryl Bryer Fallert (a world renown quilter) has written an excellent book "Quilt Savvy-Fallert's Guide to Images on Fabric." She 'makes' her own fabric from images of flowers and photos. She uses the Bubble Jet Set & Rinse products and explains everything step by step with excellent photos.

[Alamo Jo]

Thanks for the name of the book. I just bought one on Amazon for less than 4.00 and less than 4.00 shipping. They have many from verious sellers at that price.

[deathsmileyinc]

OMG ive never heard or seen freezer paper! i dont have it at home neither does the shops (here in holland)

could i use something else? could someone describe freezer paper ( it could be lag of translation)

[Alamo Jo]

I'll add that freezer paper is not exactly wax paper as some have noted. It has a thin plastic coating on the shiny side. At least the Reynolds brand is plastic.

[Alamo Jo]

Freezer paper is white and is shiny on one side and looks like regular paper on the other side. Sometimes a butcher shop wraps meats in that kind of white paper. We can buy rolls of it at stores like Walmart here in the US and some grocery stores. But I imagine a nice butcher would sell you some off his roll...maybe even give you some. When you iron it onto fabric, put the shiny side against the fabric.

[bwlservs]

wax paper

[GIJo]

Hi, I live in Holland too and found it in my local patchwork shop (http://www.desampler.nl/). They are in Haarlem, I don't know where you are but maybe you could find it in your local area too... just look for any patchwork or quilting supplier.

I have tried it and think it's great. The only problem is you are limited to the size of paper your printer can take... wish I had bought an A3 printer ;-)

Enjoy

[deathsmileyinc]

thanks for the info, i live near haarlem and i will check out the store next time ill be there.

for printing on A3 paper i recommend checking out some schools, copy shops can be really expensive, at my school we have to make a lot of drawing on the computer using A3 paper you ill be using there printer for bigger images.

i hope i helped you.

[woodlandpoppy]

Freezer paper is used to wrap foods for freezing. It comes in a roll from the food store, and is next to plastic wrap, wax paper and aluminum foil. It has a food-grade wax on only one side of the paper. You can also use masking tape folded around the leading edge of the paper to hold a piece of fabric on. Keep googling for other methods if you cannot find the paper.

[Tony5]

There's no translation, Freezer paper ispaper on one side and wax on the other. You probabilly dont have in your country. Just sew a paper sheet withthe fabric

[wocket]

what a great idea!

[emilyrosevintage]

I have tried this several times and my printer seems to cut off half the image for some reason. I am using patterned fabric but can't see that that would be a problem and it prints the same image fine onto paper?? Anyone know why!

[jse]

Of all places, I found freezer paper at Kmart...

[debzi]

This is brilliant if you want to make a stuffed toy etc. It doesnt matter that the ink wont stay on after washing. Its perfect to use to cut out the fabric pieces without the hassle of tracing or pinning favric to a pattern Also ace for applique pieces. Simply print, cut out and then remove paper. saves heaps of time. fabuloose!

[ngshuert]

I have a couple of bits of info that may be useful. (1) Kodak ink jet ink is more like a dye then the typical ink. may last a little better and maybe a lot. I need to test this as I can afford it.....Next. Dharma Trading Company. Fabrics and Dye have stuff to paint on any fabric for ink jet printing so it is cleanable and a Stiff material that you iron on but is peel-able after so it will go through the printer with that combo type of ink jet doesn't matter. And if canvas is ok you can buy it ready to go in pack at the office supplies. I've been researching this for a while but haven't jumped into the middle yet.

[gomsmo]

Sadly, these are far from colorfast. You cannot use this technique with anything you plan to wear or wash. Not a good technique for quilts or...Still looking for ways to make the fabric colorfast without having to buy the chemicals designed to make the fabric colorfast. Maybe something you can find in your home...maybe.

[Cilenia]

Make sure you wash your fabric first to remove any sizing from manufacturer, this will help your printer's ink absorb better and stay longer. Heat set after with hot cotton setting on your iron also.

[Cilenia]

OH make sure you heat set AFTER you take off the freezer paper backing!

[Cilenia]

Set your iron to a low cotton or 5-6 setting and no steam. Only takes a few seconds to adhere.

[nwreck]

What setting is your iron on?

Thanks

[fungus amungus]

Hmm, been a long time since I did this. Can't remember, sorry.

[kristineH]

Would I be able to use a knit fabric for this method?

Sorry if someone already asked...there are so many questions!!!
Thanks~!!

[enibley]

do you know if the colors will bleed if i glue this fabric on to wood or tile?

thanks for your help

[mweiss2]

Thank you I can't wait to get started!!

[nikolaj5]

hi, i have printed in black with my inkjet printer, left it for drying at least 24 hours, it faded a bit after washing. then i tried the same with colour printout, left it drying even longer, however, the colours washed nearly completely away. who has an idea, how i could make the colours stay? i tried with vinegar with the black version, it made no difference. i did not yet try the vinegar with the colours. does it really help? thanks for any idea. the printouts are really great, i would like it to stay that way even after washing. regards

[kpotassium]

Or maybe iron on a hot setting...

[kpotassium]

Try washing it with salt - salt makes dyes colour-fast apparently! That's what you are instructed to use when dying fabrics. Not sure of the ratio though. Good luck!

[pinklightning_22]

Do you think this method will print on silk? Thanks!

[timweaver17]

hey man, thanks for the 'ible. this technique worked great for me. for me, the ink didn't want to stay if the cloth got wet, so i soaked it in vinegar for a couple of hours and then washed it, and it stayed.

really appreciate you writing this up. thanks man!

[liddlehopper]

Was wondering after you print..do you like peel off the plastic or is it permanantly fused to the fabric?

[timweaver17]

you can peel the freezer paper off pretty easily

[JudieB]

Thanks so much,... What to do with this??? I'm having a blast.... I'm constructing cloth dolls with family photo faces... Thanks so much!

Judie

[jnjewel]

1.For some people who don't know where to look for the freezer paper:
- go to regular grocery store, the isles which sell saran wrap, aluminum foil, perchment paper, ziplock bag, etc.

2. Does freezer paper wax damage the fabric? So far it didn't happen to me. But it's better to test on a scrap first. I oftern use it as a sewing pattern paper, and instead of pinning, I iron on a few places so it won't shift. The freezer paper has been used as a pattern paper for applique for years. So I'm pretty sure it won't damage cotton, and I believe most people are printing on cotton.

3. For some people who wonders about the printer:
- ink jet or lazer jet printer works, but not "lazer printer". the key is the word, "JET".

4. To color fast, iron with the hottest setting for the fabric. I always cover with a paper towel just in case. You don't want to mess a iron or iron cloth.

Hope they help some who are new on this topic.

[jnjewel]

This works!  Thanks.  I bought a package of printable fabric, but my printer didn't feed them because it was too thick.   So I searched the alternative on web remembering I've heard about this freezer paper trick somewhere.   The freezer paper is much thinner than the original paper on it, so I just took the support paper off, and stick the freezer paper.  And boom!!   It worked great!
I printed a beautiful Mexican street (so colorful), and now I'm going to quilt it on top of it. 
Ciao  jnjewel

[patsy3]

great idea for the printable fabric that won't go into my printer. thanks!

[patsy3]

Thank you so much!!! I have been buying my fabric printing paper and it gets expensive. This is practically free for me. So thanks! What a treat!

[ehume]

Thanks! I can't wait to try this out. I want to make a quilt with my kids handprints -- hopefully it will work for me!

[shill7]

thanks so much this worked really well!

[leggomylegoeggo]

This is awesome, but what would I use it for?!

[padawanspider]

Dunno if anyone else has thought of this, but I can see this being a great way to put down guidelines for fabric painting - do the printing, then trace or fill in with fabric paint. Neater than freehand, easier than trying to cut a stencil or using carbon paper. And once it was painted, no problems washing it!