How to Print on Fabric at Home – 4 Different Ways

How to print on fabric at home. 4 different methods and products tested and reviewed.

I was drawn to the idea of printing on fabric when I saw some amazing memory quilts shared by one of our readers in the sewing chat group.  She used vintage family photos to create unique quilt blocks for her breath-taking quilts that will surely become treasured family heirlooms.

Sadly Facebook decided to mysteriously remove the lovely photos she sent me so I can't show you those, but here are a couple of other memory quilts shared by our group members using their own printed fabrics.

Memory quilts

Of course, you don't have to just print photos, and you don't have to use them in memory quilts either.  There are lots of other applications and reasons why you might want to print your own fabric.  We'll take a look at a couple of examples.

Print your own fabric series

So how difficult might it be to get your photo, text or any other image onto fabric?  Well, it's easy and it's hard – but there are several different options and several things that can go right and wrong along the process.  We'll look at the whole process and the options that might or might not work for you, over this and the next two articles in this series:

  1. This one – How to print on fabric at home – 4 different ways
  2. Coming up next – Print your own fabric – what about washing and fading?
  3. Making your own sew in ‘designer' labels
  4. Last one – Using  your print at home fabrics in a sewing project

Let's take a look first at how to get the fabric into your printer.

How to print on fabric at home. 4 different methods and products tested and reviewed.

How to print on fabric at home

In all of these examples, I'm using my regular (old and cheap) Canon Multi-function bubble jet printer. It may also work on Laser Printers, but you'll have to test that for yourself.  You'll need to make your fabric stiff and stable enough to feed through a printer successfully.  There are several different methods, and I've picked the 4 most popular to try and test below.  Here are my experiences.

Method 1 – freezer paper sheets

How to print on fabric at home. 4 different methods and products tested and reviewed.

You can buy ready-cut freezer paper sheets that you simply iron with a dry iron to your fabric.  My pack of 30 sheets costs $7.92 on Amazon.  (US here or UK here.)

They went on quickly, easily and smoothly. Then trim around the sheet with scissors or a rotary cutter.  Despite the description saying that ‘Sheets lie flat' mine did roll on the corners a little after fusing.  I think one of my corners wasn't properly fused because it came away a little during the printing and created a smudge in that one corner.

How to print on fabric at home. 4 different methods and products tested and reviewed.

I tried it again with a second sheet, made sure the corners were good after trimming but that one was the same too.  It came away during printing and created a smudge in the one corner.  Not sure if it was my fabric, my printer or my trimming, or something else, but I didn't get perfect results with these ready cut freezer paper sheets.

How to print on fabric at home. 4 different methods and products tested and reviewed.

Method 2 – make your own freezer paper printables

So assuming these freezer paper sheets are just that – sheets cut from freezer paper, can we simply make our own?  I cut some freezer paper roughly to size, ironed it to my fabric and then trimmed the lot with a rotary cutter to a size to fit through my printer.  The freezer paper went on easily and smoothly, felt no different to the sheets above.

How to print on fabric at home. 4 different methods and products tested and reviewed.

Obviously a little less convenient than simply pulling out a ready cut sheet, but it does mean you can make sheets any size you want, and that it would be cheaper than the ready cut sheets.

It's on a roll so I expected the end result to be curled, but it wasn't really any different to the curling on the ready cut sheets.  It seemed to fuse better than the sheets and fed through my printer perfectly every time without any coming away or smudging.  Right first time.

How to print on fabric at home. 4 different methods and products tested and reviewed.

Method 3 – ready-made fabric printer sheets

The most convenient and the most expensive method.  I bought this pack of 3 pre-treated ready-made fabric printing sheets by June Tailor for about $10.  (Amazon US here and UK here.)  They also have another very big advantage – they are pre-treated with an ink-fixing treatment.  We'll talk about inks and fading later on.

How to print on fabric at home. 4 different methods and products tested and reviewed.

These were by far the most superior and for me, the best and most preferred method.  The sheets were completely flat, thick and strong and fed through the printer perfectly every time, with no smudging.  I was very confident in using them, and they gave a very crisp printed result, bright colors and a nice quality.

How to print on fabric at home. 4 different methods and products tested and reviewed.

The color is described as white, but it was a little less bright white than the cotton fabric I was using.  You can see here a comparison of color and of printing between my cotton fabric I was using with the freezer paper and the ready-cut fabric sheets in this package.  Printing is generally clearer, brighter and crisper.

How to print on fabric at home. 4 different methods and products tested and reviewed.

Method 4 – using a fusible web

I used the Heat N Bond fusible web to stiffen the fabric for printing in this final test.  (Amazon US here and UK here.)  Works similar to freezer paper but with an added advantage.  Comes on a roll, so quite economical, and fuses to the fabric with a dry iron.  Then trimmed to size same as the freezer paper method.  Still curls when fused, but it was a little heavier weight than the freezer paper and fed perfectly through the printer every time, no smudging.

How to print on fabric at home. 4 different methods and products tested and reviewed.

Added bonus – the fusible web is double-sided, so when you peel off the backing paper, your fabric sheet is now fusible and has a glue layer on the reverse so you can cut out shapes, photos, etc and fuse them to other projects or simply fuse them to another piece of fabric for strength and stability.

How to print on fabric at home. 4 different methods and products tested and reviewed.

Pros and cons of each method of printing on fabric

Freezer paper – easy to use, making your own sheets is cheaper than buying the ready-made freezer paper sheets.  Sheets might be reusable several times, but probably best not to.  Possibility of some creasing, curling or smudging if your corners or leading edge aren't properly fused or have little threads.

Ready-prepared fabric sheets – easiest option and the best printed result.  Pre-treated to be colorfast (read more about why this is important later), but expensive.  Save for your ‘best' projects, anything that needs to be washed, and test print on the freezer paper method first.  If you are going to choose – I recommend investing in these sheets instead of the cheaper methods.  If a thing is worth doing, its worth doing well!

Fusible web – leaves a fusible layer on the reverse of your printed sheet – this can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on how you plan to use it.  Easy to use and reasonably priced.

Coming up ….

Next in the series, we'll look at print settings to use, and whether your printed fabric is washable or not, and what to do about that!  Until then, start to gather a few of those fabric printing supplies together because I'll have some printable files to share and we can work on a project.


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Cathryn Hepburn
Cathryn Hepburn

A suggestion that was given to me, that I find works when using freezer paper and fabric, use scotch tape across the lead end that starts. I’ve done that with mine and have eliminated that corner smudge issue.

Denise Parish

I have bought the bubble jet set kit to treat my fabric prior to ironing it onto the Reynolds freezer paper prior to pruning on it. Turns out great every time and doesn’t fade in the wash.

Kerry Davidson
Kerry Davidson

I also had trouble with my freezer paper not feeding properly into the printer. I pretty much fixed that by cutting it a little bigger at the top and pressing it to the front of the fabric, making sure it was within the margin of the printed page.

There is also a product called Bubble Jet Set that I have used to treat the fabric with good results It can be a bit difficult/expensive to buy though depending on where you live.

Kerry Davidson
Kerry Davidson
Reply to  Kerry Davidson

I forgot to mention that you get a LOT of pages out of the bottle, so it’s not really as expensive as it seems.

Joan May
Joan May

This is a great idea, I’ve done this before and it was great. However I agree that the per-made sheets work the best and they last a long time.

Rochelle Summers
Rochelle Summers

Fantastic article. I look forward to the next articles on Printer Settings and Washability.

Julie Fitzpatrick

Thanks for the info! I have thought about doing the print on fabric thing, even taken a couple of classes but just haven’t gotten it done. Maybe this time…

Yvonne Finne
Yvonne Finne

I’m planning a pillowcase project for throw pillows, 12 by 12 or 14 by 14. I have some linen that I want to use. Do you think this would work to transfer the design onto the linen?

Melissa Watts
Melissa Watts

One other suggestion, round corners before printing. It may help prevent corners catching or curling. These may have already been suggested but I cannot access comments.

Melissa
Melissa

I would suggest NOT using these techniques in a laser printer. Since they print by melting the ink to the page it will melt anything with adhesive and ruin the printing roller and need to be replaced. It will also ruin your project. Been there done that. Thanks for the tutorial.

Janice
Janice

You absolutely CAN NOT use a laser printer. It uses a heat process(laser) to set the ink and everything will melt. Do not even try it. It will mess up your printe

Anne Evans
Anne Evans

Great ideas. I usually paint fabric with InkAid which gives a nice crisp image (leaves the fabric a little stiffer than it is originally) and cut the fabric a bit smaller than an A4 sheet of printer paper and attach to the printer paper using masking tape. So long as you make sure the tape is adhered well there shouldn’t be any problems – always works for me.

Anne 🙂

VICTORIA ENYART
VICTORIA ENYART

I tried all of the above and ended up with June Tailor paper as it was the crispest and appears the same quality as my photos. and If I could attach a photo you would see the awesome product.

Pam
Pam

Hey Debi ~ thank you SEW much for the tutorial on how to join quilt binding! I was making round placemats and had no idea how to join the final swam and you instructions were fabulous. Eight placemats all done now, just awaiting the hand stitching. Go you! ???

Cheryl Masters
Cheryl Masters

This does look like it might be fun to do. Now if I can just keep my granddaughter away from my printer and ink it will make it so much easier. Thank you all so much for your continued support and and all the help and free patterns that you so generously share with us. i love the pattern that you shared ll that has the sleeves built in. We used to call them batwing sleeves, but that was a loong time ago. I picked up some Telio Hatchi knit for it, and it’s going to be gorgeous. Again, thank you so much for all your help. Have a great weekend. Cheryl

Cathy Ferrin
Cathy Ferrin

Great ideas—looking forward to Part 2. Will this work with photos?

Mrs ANGI Lane
Mrs ANGI Lane

in uk the cost with postage would be £30.00 for the ready made stuff form June Tailor from the amazon link. Its too expensive to even think of 🙁

Sue Smith
Sue Smith

I’m hoping to print my logo to put on to plain fabric dog bandanas any advice for the best method?

Monica Hoff
Monica Hoff

I’m creating infinity scarves with Jersey knit fabric. I want to iron on the print of random pages of a certain book. What would you recommend?

Mayra Cecilia
Admin
Noble Member
Reply to  Monica Hoff

It would depend on what type of paper and the fiver content you have. I prefer the printer sheets since you will be washing the scarf frequently that is if you have an ink jet printer.

Cindy
Cindy

I am worried about putting fabric in my printer to print. Can I print on the freezer paper and transfer to burlap by ironing it?

pamela harris
pamela harris

Don’t you have to pre-treat the fabric in order for the ink to stay in the fabric? Otherwise, won’t the colour come out as soon as you wash it?
I have heard of bubble jet but does anyone use anything else?

Mayra Cecilia
Admin
Noble Member
Reply to  pamela harris

Hi Pamela, use pigment die and the appropriate transfer medium and you should be ok. I should do a few project with this technique so you can see the results.

Carole-Jayne Watson
Carole-Jayne Watson

I’m just a little lost. Can I **copy** say, a photo, onto the fabric? or does it have to come directly from the computer. Thank you for opening my eyes!

Mayra Cecilia
Admin
Noble Member

To be able to copy a photo you need to way to transfer it to the fabric. Please choose according to the materials you can get easily.

Nancy
Nancy

Feeling a bit confused about the process. Can you print your image onto the wax side of freezer paper then iron onto fabric wax side down? I have done the wood transfers with good results.

Mayra Cecilia
Admin
Noble Member
Reply to  Nancy

Not sure Nancy, as far as I know the wax side help the paper and die stick to the fabric, can you try and post your results. I wonder how well it will the die stay on the fabric? Let us know please.

Christine Muehlbauer
Christine Muehlbauer

For printing on many fabrics (canvas, felt, burlap, cotton, etc.), I just use a full size of (8 1/2″ X 11″) Avery label sheets. I have never utilized any of the aforementioned sources for printing on fabric because the office label sheets are great. I do in fact have a good printer (HP Photosmart Inkjet), so this might help with my success, but honestly, I have used this method on other printers I have owned in the past with great success. I love using the full size Avery label sheets. I have even utilized the same sheet two or three times (not with felt and burlap though, due to leftover/residual lint/material) and it still worked great. As far as treating the fabric so it doesn’t run, well I don’t have much to offer about that because my industry is not for items that will ever require washing. Give it a whirl, you all might like it. Happy Crafting 🙂

Jennifer Hatfield
Jennifer Hatfield

Great Idea! Thanks, Sounds like I will need to try these ideas all out for my self. Just opening a business from home. I just need Ideas for things I could use repetitively for production.

Sonya Bunkum
Sonya Bunkum

Can you please expla8n how this works?
I am very interested.

Sue Smith
Sue Smith

are those clear labels?

Karol
Karol

I used Bubble Jet Set early on when it came out with great success. When I had a problem with corners, I made a ‘carrier’ sheet from a piece of card stock with double stick tape across the top. I would put the freezer paper/fabric combo, paper side to the d/s tape. That allowed the printer to catch it with no problem. Perfect prints with my canon ink jet printer. The tape would last for quite a few prints. Then I’d replace it.

In fact before the BJS, I used artist’s workable fixative on the fabric. I don’t remember where that idea came from. sprayed it on. pressed it and repeated it a couple times. It worked well. Wouldn’t take a lot of washing tho

Barbara Hathaway

Wow, i love this. This is stuff I’ve never heard of before. Gonna try it after hitting Amazon.

Shannon
Shannon

This is a great series! Like someone mentioned above I’ve been paralyzed by indecision. I want to make my grandmother a pillow with pictures of her great grandchildren but can’t decide on the method I want to use. After I finish my sewing for teachers I’m just going to dive in. My grandmother sews the most beautiful quilts. It will be nice for her to receive something handmade for a change!

Cathy
Cathy
Reply to  Shannon

Hodge Podge can work well for that as well.

Dory
Dory

I am a little “thick!” My question, does the image actually print on the fabric or is it on the paper fused to the fabric? My granddaughters want some certain images on some t-shirts and I was going to try and make them, but my first attempt was a disaster. I’ve since bought more t-shirts and would like to try again. Thanks for your suggestions

Deby at So Sew Easy
Active Member
Reply to  Dory

Ah for t-shirts you want something different again. There is a product where you print the image onto a transfer paper and then iron that onto the t-shirt and the image comes off the paper onto the fabric. I used this stuff to create some cool Christmas Decorations here where I transferred images onto felt. If you check out this link, you’ll see the stuff you need for t-shirts. https://so-sew-easy.com/easy-felt-christmas-tree-ornaments/

Cheryl
Cheryl
Reply to  Dory

Yes, the image is printed right on the fabric, so make sure when you load your fabric/paper that the fabric is the right side up for your printer to print on .

Patsy
Patsy

I have used the freezer paper method for all my quilts so far (a dozen or so). I usually am making one label at a time and center it on my fabric so if the corner curls or smudges it doesn’t matter. I use the freezer paper on the roll cutting it to size. I have an inkjet printer and print with black ink. I find other colors of ink do wash out easier (at least navy blue did not work as well). I make sure I heat set the ink before I wash. So far so good. I like making labels this way because I can use my computer and say what I want and decorate the way I want. Deby, thank you for this study and posting it. Most informative.

Ann
Ann

Thank you! I just ordered the fabric paper to try this on a quilt. I will let you know how it does.

Penny
Penny

I don’t like the fabric sheets, they are stiff and rubbery, I love the bubble jet method, because if I want a certain color for leaves or what ever I am doing, then I just grab a sheet I already treated and is ready to go, this works great, I just treat a bunch of fabric at once and then when I want a certain design, I just grab one and start playing with color. thank you, oh and yes I use good old wax paper and just a little bit of blue painter tap on the end, works beautifully .

Lesley Gilbert
Lesley Gilbert

I’ve used the ‘iron on’ transfer paper method a few times with great success. I printed some football team logos onto white fabric and made them into mug rugs to sell at a craft fair 🙂

Gail B
Gail B

Thanks Deby for the info for printing on fabric and I will be looking forward to all of the following blogs relating to this topic.

Simka Miljkovic
Simka Miljkovic

Last Christmas, I made zipper bags for all my co-workers. They sent me their favorite pictures and I printed them on fabric. I used white duck cloth that I soaked in Bubble Jet 2000 (after pre-washing) and adhered to freezer paper (I had better luck with the sheets than with the roll). After printing, I used Bubblet Jet Rinse (I purchased both from Darma Trading -they have wonderful directions on their site).
I was so pleased with the results and my co-workers LOVED them.

Hilary
Hilary

I recently read a book – I think it was called “Breaking The Rules With Fabric” but I’m not 100% certain – and it suggested that when you’re prepping freezer paper with fabric to feed through your printer that you make sure the fabric doesn’t quite go all the way to the leading edge of the paper (the part your printer will grab on to to pull the sheet through.) It helps it feed more smoothly, apparently. Haven’t tried it yet, but thought that might help with your corner pulling up issue.
Thanks for the great review of options!

Deby at So Sew Easy
Active Member
Reply to  Hilary

That’s a good idea. Make a nice neat edge on the fabric and then slightly overlap the freezer paper. I’ll try it!

Kim
Kim

I forgot to add that there is fabric sold on amazon that comes in rolls that you can cut to the size that you need and use for printing. This is actually my fabric of choice. It is the least expensive and easiest for printing on fabric.

Deby at So Sew Easy
Active Member
Reply to  Kim

Ah ha, I’ll need to look out for that. Thanks for the tip.

Kim
Kim

I have tried many ways of printing on fabric, including all that you have shown above. I also have used cotton fabric adhered to card stock with Bubble Jet Set and used the Bubble Jet Rinse afterwards to set the ink. I sell these in my etsy shop and people love sending me pics and getting their picture on fabric to use in any project they’d like. Several people have also just framed the printed fabric! You can also print fabric with fabric designs to make quilts and other items. I have made my own fabric by printing a sock monkey fabric design onto the cotton and then made other items with the new fabric that I’ve made. This is also a great idea to save your children’s artwork and compile it all into a nice baby quilt for future grandchildren or collect pictures of a bride and groom while they are growing up and print them onto fabric along with engagement and wedding pictures and it makes a lovely wedding or anniversary gift. The possibilities are endless and limited only by your imagination!

Pam @Threading My Way

Thanks for all the info, Deby – very helpful. I bought some ready prepared fabric sheets. Have totally forgotten what I had in mind, but I haven’t used them yet. They cost $30 for 5 sheets!!! At least I know now they’re a good option.

Deby at So Sew Easy
Active Member

Wow those were some expensive sheets! I just bought a pack of 10 for $22 so still pricey but worth it for the projects I have in mind.

Sherry Kelly
Sherry Kelly

I’ve been researching this very topic because I want to make an anniversary quilt for my parents. Here are a couple other options:
There is a product called Bubble Jet set. You soak your fabric in this prior to printing.
There is also something called iron on transfer paper. You print your image onto this and then iron it on to your fabric.
The third option, and the one I am leaning toward is to email your pictures to Spoonflower and have them print them onto fabric for you.
All of these suggestions come highly recommended from those who have used them. I’m kind of paralyzed by indecision at this point :/

Deby at So Sew Easy
Active Member
Reply to  Sherry Kelly

I know! There are so many ways you can do it, you just have to look at all the options and decide which is best for your project. Spoonflower would no doubt probably give the best results, but it can be expensive. The Bubble Jet Set I can’t get here so couldn’t try that one, but would be an alternative to using the pre-treated sheets.

Charlotte
Charlotte
Reply to  Sherry Kelly

I make my own by using regular paper for the printer, high quality muslin fabric or sheets, repositional spray on adhesive. Name brand printer ink turns out is water insoluble, but generic ink runs like crazy.

Deby at So Sew Easy
Active Member
Reply to  Charlotte

I thought that too about the ink but it turns out it’s not that straightforward. My black Canon sticks, my Canon color inks washes out. I’ve got a follow up article coming up about washability. Interesting about using a spray adhesive and regular paper. Must try!

Linda
Linda

Printer must be inkjet – laser works differently.
Thanks for reviewing the different methods. I plan on making a family tree quilt with pictures so will take your review into advisement. Did you find the printed ready -made sheets stiff? That has been my experience.

Deby at So Sew Easy
Active Member
Reply to  Linda

Yes they were a bit stiff, but that tends to work well with the sort of projects I’d be making anyway and would save me adding and interfacing to the fabric.

Kim
Kim
Reply to  Linda

Yes Linda, you are exactly right. The laser printers will not be colorfast if you print onto fabric with them. You must use an ink printer in order to make the prints last.

Andi C
Andi C

I’ve printed directly onto freezer paper to transfer designs onto wood and other surfaces to paint, but never knew it could be ironed onto fabric to give it the stiffness for printing!! I learn something new every time I read your blog. Thank you Deby!

Domenica
Reply to  Andi C

I’d love to see how you transfer from freezer paper to wood!