Printing on Fabric

For a project that I'm working on I need to have a prototype made up that is print ready 

on fabric. I wanted to use muslin, not the white cotton fabric that

is sold by the sheet ready for the printer. I had made this up years
ago and made pillows from my artwork. It isn't very washable
but can be wiped with a damp cloth after drying.

First you need freezer paper.

It is a heavy paper that has a plastic coating on one side.

That side is very shiny so that is the side you want to attach the fabric to.

I make sure that the paper is cut straight to ensure that it runs through

 the printer without getting bunched up.

Also I use it standard size: 8 1/2" x 11" I tried cutting it larger

but the paper gets too floppy that way.

I first give the muslin a nice pressing and that also makes the fabric a bit warm and
in my opinion, may help hold the paper in place better.

Then the shiny side of the freezer paper gets placed down on the muslin and a light 

ironing is used to smooth it. You don't need the iron very hot and
just do a quick light pass and check to see that it stuck.
.

For this project, I needed three pieces so I just kept lining them up along side each other, then snipped away and trimmed the edges to the paper. It is easier sometimes to do this step with a rotary and a straight edge on the cutting board.

Three pieces of fabric ready for the printer. Make sure that there are
no stray threads.

 

These are the printed pages on the muslin. Before you
attempt to sew, let this dry for 24 hours. The ink
needs to be very dry. It won't be a brightly colored
print as Spoonflower can do on their professional
printers, but it's a great way to find out if
your pattern or design works.

Thomas would rather I hold him all day instead of working on art.....

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Have a nice day :)