Thursday 4 August 2016

Advice needed ....

.... if there's anybody out there still reading my blog, I need some help please.  I would like to make some quilt labels using my printer at home.  Can I just attach ordinary fabric to freezer paper and run that through or does the fabric have to be special, pre-treated stuff?

11 comments:

  1. I can help. I have tried several different ways. I have used the timeless treasures fabric (very expensive) tried just printing on the fabric, used micro pens, and the bubble jet set and bubble rinse. I like the bubble jet set and bubble rinse the best.

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  2. You can just iron onto freezer paper and print, but I find it curls and can jam. I find it works best if you stick the freezer paper to regular paper to help keep it flat.
    Iron the fabric to the freezer paper really well, trim the edges and let it cool flat before you try printing.
    Let the ink dry for 24 hours and then press hot to set the ink.(I've done thus after attaching to the quilt when pressed for time!)
    The printing does fade a bit when washed!

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  3. You can just iron onto freezer paper and print, but I find it curls and can jam. I find it works best if you stick the freezer paper to regular paper to help keep it flat.
    Iron the fabric to the freezer paper really well, trim the edges and let it cool flat before you try printing.
    Let the ink dry for 24 hours and then press hot to set the ink.(I've done thus after attaching to the quilt when pressed for time!)
    The printing does fade a bit when washed!

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  4. I don't have experience with this (yet), but I have heard that it only works with an ink jet printer and not a laser printer.

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  5. Good thing you have friends who knew the answer because I didn't. But, I am still reading your blog!

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  6. I cut my freezer paper 8.5 x 11 fuse it to the back of my label fabric. Then I cut another strip of freezer paper 8.5 x 1 and fuse that to the freezer papers top edge to add a little more body to the edge that will feed through the printer first. I have sometimes found that just lightly holding the bottom edge and adding slight forward pressure helps it to get started and take up evenly through the feeder, avoiding wrinkles or jams. My printer is a front feed and I take any other printer paper out so nothing else gets taken up and printed on instead.

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  7. I've done it both ways, plain and treated - even used the pre-packaged treated fabric. It all works, but as everyone has stated - be sure to heat set!

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  8. Sue, I've been wanting to make labels, so I appreciate your putting this question out there. Be sure to let us know how your labels turn out!

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  9. The wrapper that comes around your printer paper works well too, if you iron your fabric to the shiny side. I always iron to heat set, but Matilda's Own also have pre-prepared sheets. Not sure whether that is available in UK, but the company is Victorian Textiles and they have a website. Take care.

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  10. You can do that, but it will not survive a wash (or much exposure to light).

    If you want a lasting label then print what you want onto regular paper (which could include motifs, not just words), tape it onto a lightbox, then put your freezer-paper-backed fabric on top and draw/write using fabric permanent pens such as Pigma.

    It is not the fastest method because the drawing/tracing/writing has to be done slowly but can give you a lovely result; you could use different coloured pens, not just black.

    I've used BubbleJet Set in the past and it helps set the ink but didn't make it permanent.

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