charlottequilts

Good morning -

I just received an excellent sale order from Hancock's (4.99/yd) and thought I could easily tell if the fabrics were screen printed, but alas.

There are no color dots on the selvages. Maybe that's not always done?
There are tiny holes in the selvages, in a pattern, as screen prints have.
The pattern from the front is vaguely visible on the back, but maybe that's also true of digital fabrics?
Some seem to be sized a bit, but then that's not uncommon.

Hoping someone who owns some digital fabrics can help. The labeling online isn't reliable at this point, but it would be nice if one were in a store to be able to tell by looking/feeling.

Oh, and they're all Marcus Fabrics (Aunt Grace and Paula Barnes.)

thanks,
charlotte

1CharmShort

Pat Sloan discusses the qualities of digitally printed fabrics, and some of the differences between them and traditionally printed fabrics here on Youtube....beginning at the 4:00 minute mark or so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbShXmV_Kj0

she mentions things like traditionally printed fabrics usually have fewer colors, they can have embellishments (extra sparkle) like metalic or glow in the dark - digitally printed fabrics aren't embellished...yet. Things like that. And yes, those color blocks are absent in the digital fabrics...they're not necessary for the printers
Lots of info there.
Oh BTW she discusses Benartex fabrics.

charlottequilts

[QUOTE=1CharmShort;8603192]Pat Sloan discusses the qualities of digitally printed fabrics, and some of the differences between them and traditionally printed fabrics here on Youtube....beginning at the 4:00 minute mark or so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbShXmV_Kj0

Thanks, I did see that, but it didn't quite give enough information to tell them from the screen prints.

hugs,
charlotte

charlottequilts

So, after reading everything online that I could (pretty much all the same thing), I have concluded that all of the fabrics I received are digitally printed.

The lack of color dots wasn't evidence enough, as I've had screen prints without them, and I was still hopeful that they were screen prints because I could see the front pattern, kind of, from the back, but the selvedges are just weird - very stark, large print and wider than normal. All say "Marcus Fabrics Copyright Protected."

The Aunt Grace prints are likely usable, as they are soft and similar to what I have, but the Paula Barnes Companions are not. The fabric is thick and stiff (probably loaded with ink) and likely will not fade similarly to the screen prints I was going to use them with.

Marcus has certain fabrics coded with a D on their site, but none of these were. I checked Every Single One.

So, that is my cautionary tale. I will have to find a quilt shop to fill in these colors and likely soon while a choice is still out there.

And, if you're going to read about this, you can save time stopping with one or two sites, as they are all echoing each other - environmental benefits! and (much more quietly) money saved on the production end.

hugs,
charlotte

sewbizgirl

I can't stand digital prints, mostly because they snag on my needle and I end up with little white streaks. Same if I try to pick out a seam. Can't quilt them without the little pulls. Yes, everyone will tell me to change my needle, but it still happens then. I feel like we are in for a quilting doomsday if these don't hold their colors through many washings as screen printed fabrics do. I'm afraid of the quilts fading quicker than screen prints would.

I've gotten pretty good at spotting digital prints when offered online. I am avoiding them now, but what if all quilting fabric is printed digitally in the future? Good thing I began hoarding fabric before the digital prints came along! LOL. I could easily quilt til the end of my life with what I have stashed now.

cashs_mom

I hate it when we are cornered into using what some anonymous entity decides we should (usually because it's cheaper for them and they can still charge us the same). Digital is definitely not always best. Music officianados are going back to vinyl because digital sounds kind of sucks. The best hearing aids I've had were my first ones 20+ years ago because they were analog. The sound was definitely closer to real sound, but the powers that be decided digital is better and that's all there is now.

charlottequilts

Sewbizgirl, I can only identify the most flamboyant of the digital prints online (the stuff that reminds you of Elvis on velvet), so I'm very envious that you can figure it out.

hugs,
charlotte

cashs_mom

Okay. Elvis on velvet totally made me laugh.

SusieQOH

I've never used digital prints but you're 100% right about vinyl records, Patrice!

quiltsfor

Though I truely love the 'old style' dyed cotton. I'm finding that digital printed fabric is more on who is manufacturing it. Some of it is really nice fabric, others it like getting old nylon fabric that's painted. I'm tending to do my buying with the more main name brand designers and manufacturers. So far, other than the very first time I got digital fabric (which was like a waterproof fabic shower curtain feel), the digital fabric I have been purchasing has been good quality and nice fabric - in that if you didn't know it was digital, it compared with the 'old style' dyed cotton in color and feel, and was hard to tell the difference unless you saw the labeling or knew what to look for.