Friday, February 13, 2009

How To Print On Fabric Using Freezer Paper

~ please read all instructions before you begin ~

1. Cut a piece of fabric so it’s the same size as a piece of paper. – 8.5” x 11”

2. Cut a piece of freezer paper the same size. – 8.5” x 11”

3. With a heated iron (medium to high heat) press the fabric to the shiny side of the freezer paper. – I find that the fabric adheres better if ironing on a flat hard surface rather than a padded ironing board. I use a thin flat towel to cover my countertop and use that as my ironing surface, but use caution as you could scorch your countertop.

4. Once the fabric is adhered to the freezer paper, check for stray threads and trim away any excess fabric that isn’t bonded to the freezer paper along the edges.

5. Place the fabric sheet in the paper tray of your printer, it’s best to have some other paper below the fabric sheet – it just helps the fabric sheet to feed thru better.

6. Now print your image.


You’ll probably have to play with the settings on your printer to achieve the quality you’re after. Once you figure out what works best, I suggest that you write it down so you’ll know for next time.


A Note About Ink:

Some inks for inkjet printers are not colorfast so you’ll need to test that out, you don’t want your project ruined if it should get wet.

I use an Epson printer and Epson Durabrite ink which is permanent. I’ve even washed the printed fabric and it still looks great!


A Note About Freezer Paper:

Freezer paper is found in most grocery stores in the same aisle as foil, plastic wrap, etc. Make sure it says FREEZER paper. Do not use wax paper, it’s not the same thing and wax paper won’t work.

I like to use pre-cut 8.5”x11” sheets of freezer paper. It really saves some time. I buy mine from www.cjenkinscompany.com They also have pre-treated printable fabric and fabric sheets.


The Fine Print:

I have never had any problems using this method of printing. However, I will NOT be responsible for any damages that may occur to your printer by using this method of printing. If you follow these directions you are printing at your own risk.


Happy Printing!!
Deena Davis - Bette Shaw
www.PrintAndSew.com

15 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for sharing your technique with us. I would love to give this a try but I only have a cannon printer and I don't know how to make the ink permanent. If you have any suggestions it would be appreciated. But I can use it for items that I know won't be washed. Your a wonderful artist to share your experience with us.
    Hugs
    Bernice

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  2. Krylon makes a spray called workable fixative. I print my images on my HP office jet, then spray them with workable fixative. I have never tried to wash these images but once the spray has dried, you can put ink, paint or anything on the images without smudging!

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  3. Wonderful tutorial....I can follow this one quite easily. Hope my printer will handle it.
    It's new but it wants to jam on me....but I've been so anxious to try this.
    Thanks!

    Karen

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  4. Thanks for your info--Tried it out and works perfectly. remember to type your print several inches from the top of page. I had to attach a strip of masking tape to the top edge of the freezer paper to give the printer something less shiny to grab on to.
    I fixed the ink by heat setting it as you would for fabric paints, then washed it by hand and no ink came out. On my second attempt using a dark green ink, I forgot to heat set the print and some of it did wash out but not enough to spoil the label I was printing for my quilt. thanks girls and great to share the tips. Craft folk are really generous.
    Mae in Scotland

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  5. thanks for the tutorial, do you peel the freezer paper off after or do you leave it on?

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  6. This blog is all about how to make out from something that is readily available.

    Print on to Canvas

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  7. just wondering if this would work only on inkject printer or would it also work on laser printer? Thanks a lot!!

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    Replies
    1. Yes it worked for me, but half the time when I try to remove the printed fabric off the freezer paper, the ink "smudges". a little of the ink scatters because of the static electricity...(because laser printers use static elec. to bond the ink to the sheet) and when I try to remove the fabric, there is lots of static elect. I'm not sure why....my house air is really dry...so maybe thats why. I hope that makes sense lol

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    2. my result

      (napaea_crafts on instagram)

      https://www.instagram.com/p/BQ3Pmh1Bz0-/?taken-by=napaea_crafts&hl=en

      Delete
  8. After multiple tries, this did not work for me. I also tried covering the edges of the fabric/freezer paper with tape, so that the edges would not get caught but no matter what I did, my printer did not want to run the sheet through. A trip to Michael's is on my agenda for tomorrow; maybe the commercial product will work better. Thanks for the idea anyway.

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    Replies
    1. I have found that the format you print from makes a difference. If the file is in PDF format, fabric gets caught in the printer every time, but if I insert the image into a draw document in Open Office, it prints perfectly (remember to leave extra margin - you will have to test your printer). I know it doesn't seem to make sense, but try out some different document formats, because it does make a difference. My fabric on freezer paper goes through without any problems.

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  9. I had to iron fusible interfacing onto the fabric, then iron the freezer paper onto the interfacing in order to get the fabric to feed into the printer properly. Otherwise, it would just jam.

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  10. Thanks for the detailed instructions. My quilting teacher described this to me to day, and I said "GENIUS". Will give it a go, and post the results!! Pinned you to my PINTREST page.

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  11. I love printing on fabrics! My process is slightly different as I don't use the pre-cut sheets. I begin with a slightly larger sheet of freezer paper and fabric...fuse the together...and then trim to exactly 8.5 x 11.0 inches. I get a more precise clean edge and my printer is happier. Just thought I'd share for those that might be having issues with their printers. Hugs, Kathy

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