Fabric printing

For the last few months or so, I’ve been puzzling over the best way to custom print my own fabrics. I’ve contacted screenprinters in the area, read crafty forums, and brainstormed with friends. The potential project had fallen from priority when I discovered a fabric printing link from Frykitty to the Craft Chi blog entry on digitally designed fabrics using Bubble Jet Set 2000. (I loooove Dharma Trading!)

Aha! While I am still limited by the width of paper my printer can manage, this solution is much more financially viable and scalable than purchasing the kits of five sheets for $20. Since some printers now support printing directly from memory cards, once I’ve designed my fabrics, I don’t necessarily have to have the computer hooked up in order to be able to print. My Epson combo scanner printer workhorse has gotten a little grouchy with a sheet or two, but for the most part, I’m getting terrific printed canvas pieces out of this. Think I am going to look for a used wider format printer and pick up a number of those inkjet refuill kits so I can print a fair amount of fabric for a reasonable investment.

I would really love to be able to get larger pieces done, but since I am primarily going to be using this for bags and other smaller items, this is a good solution for the time being. My next challenge is to configure my printer to print banner-sized reams of fabric.