Gannyrosie

when my dear friends husband pasted away, her daughter asked if I would make 3 quilts for the boys with his cloths and requested some of their favorite pics to be included. I had never put pics on fabric, so I did a lot of reading. I ended up using bubble jet on Mona cotton, but I was still concerned about fading after years of washing, so I tried something to help set the ink longer. I had a can of clear acrylic spray. So I put a light coat on the pics after dried and set with iron, did a test wash with dawn, scrubbing it good.. It didn't even fade or change. Don't know if anyone has used or tried putting a sealer on printed pics, but I felt I would share. Only One issue, you can't iron the pic or the acrylic will stick to the iron.

Grammahunt

I've never had an issue with fading when I've used the made for printing fabric sheets. My main motto in life is to do whatever works. Never tried an acrylic spray tho. If I did I would never place the iron directly on the photo, but only iron face down on an acrylic pressing sheet. Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

ManiacQuilter2

From what I read on previous posts, have them professionally printed on fabric. They have much better dyes than the average cheap printer in a household.

maryb119

This is the best way to do it and the pictures are much crisper, too. I have done it on Printed Treasures fabric sheets but it is stiff and it does fad some after washing. Professional printing is more expensive but it lasts much longer.

Littledreamdevil

This is how I do it and it is a lot cheaper than buying printing sheets. Find the picture you want to print on fabric. Do any editing to the picture that is needed to get your picture the way you want it. Cut fabric to size you need and your printer will let you use.
Soak fabric in bubble jet and let it dry. Then Iron fabric so all wrinkles are gone and fabric is smooth.Then Cut any strings that may be on fabric off. Tape it to printer paper (you can reuse this) or wax paper (you can reuse this. You can buy this at any store in food area.) Run this through you ink jet printer. (You can only print on fabric with ink jet printer not safe to use laser jet ever). Let the ink dry on you fabric. Use you fabric Picture any way you want. The first time you wash the item with your fabric picture on it (t-shirt, quilt, placemat or any thing you have made with it). treat it with Retayne in washer as directed on bottle. Retayne will set you ink and Your fabric will never fade. You can buy bubble jet and Retayne on Amazon cheaper than buying in a fabric store. This is the cheapest way to print on fabric if you plan on doing a lot of Fabric pictures. This is how I do it and it works every time. I do a lot of printing picture to fabric and at times I have designed fabric I want to make my quilt blocks with.

Gannyrosie

Lttledreamdevil I know professionally it would be cheaper, but they came out great and even professionally I knew they may fade. But spraying them lightly put a sealant on them and yes they were a little crisp before washing, but didn't notice it too much after. Also I had 45 pics to print, so professionally was out the question

Irishrose2

I think your idea worked out well. That being said, I recently saw a quilt I used Printed Treasures on and the pictures look great. I know my son is a frequent launderer and likes to dry things too thoroughly, IMO, so I was pleasantly surprised.

kplumbridge

I now use the prepared fabric from Betty's Photos on Fabric. The fabric is already paper-backed and there are multiple sizes available. She also has a sealing spray that you can spray on the photos after they are printed. This brand seems to hold the ink better than any of the other brands I have tried. http://bettysphotosonfabric.com/