Printing a design on fabric: why and how?

If you like drawing, have you thought about printing your drawings on fabric? Or your children's drawings? Printing drawings on fabric opens up an infinite universe of creativity and personalization.

Here is why this technique is interesting and some original ideas to exploit it:

Why print your drawings on fabric?

Materials have qualities distinct from those of paper that give them many advantages and uses in everyday life.

The advantages of textile over paper

• Fabrics are flexible, they can be stored folded then ironed to remove creases, which makes them easy to store.
• Most fabrics do not fear water, unlike paper. Some can even be waterproof.
• Dusty or soiled fabric from use can generally be washed. So textile can be given a less delicate and more durable use. No comparison between a paper towel and a fabric towel...

Did you know that during World War II, the American army produced maps called "escape maps" printed on silk fabric? Allied soldiers parachuted behind enemy lines were equipped with these extremely lightweight and weather-resistant maps to help them navigate unknown territory.

In daily life, printing our drawings on fabric allows us to give a whole range of uses to our creations. Fabrics printed with drawings can become decorative cushions, patches to apply to clothing, elements to integrate into a patchwork, wall hangings easier to carry than a poster, and many other things.

What if we drew directly on the fabric?

Indeed, one might wonder why not draw or paint directly on the textile, instead of doing it on paper then printing, which adds steps. But digital printing offers many advantages:

• Drawing directly on textile requires specialized drawing equipment and more practice. Children, in particular, who make very pretty drawings on paper, struggle with the limited colors of fabric markers.
• We often have drawings on paper that we would like to reproduce.
• If you are used to drawing on a tablet with an app like ProCreate, printing is the way to give body to our creations.
• Printing allows to adapt the scale: the same drawing can be printed in different sizes, depending on the need.
• It is also possible to use the drawing as a repetitive pattern to print fabric by the meter.

How to print your drawings on fabrics?

The world of textile printing being vast, you must first ask what use you want to make of the fabric in order to choose the most appropriate textile support and transfer technique.

Digitize your drawings

If you start from drawings on paper, you must first digitize them, either using a scanner or by taking a photograph. Be careful, the quality of the scan or photo is important, especially if you want to print in large format later.

If you draw on a digital medium, just save the file, making sure to get a good resolution.

Choose the fabric and digital printing technique

• How to print the drawing on fabric?

  If an A4 format (21×29.7) is enough, you can print at home with a common inkjet printer and fabric sheets to print on.

  For larger formats and professional quality printing, machine washable, the best is to use a fabric printing service. Fibra Creativa offers a custom printing service of your files, with no minimum quantity.

• Adaptability: Different styles and techniques (screen printing, digital printing, heat transfer) allow choosing the best method according to the desired result.

• Eco-responsibility: Printing on fabric can be done with ecological inks, thus avoiding waste and promoting more sustainable production.

Creative ideas with drawings printed on fabric

Print your children's drawings to create decorative textile objects

What a shame that our children's drawings so often end up at the bottom of a drawer, where they deteriorate over time, while we can make so many pretty objects to decorate their room or give to grandparents.

Once converted into a piece of fabric, the youngest child's drawing can decorate a t-shirt, transform into:

• cushion
• pouch
• pajama holder
• pillow
• ... and many other objects both useful and charming.

This is what we did with this drawing, printed on cotton percale, which is about to become a TV screen cover, surrounded by a matching plain cotton fabric. Screens, TV or computer, being real dust nests and not necessarily aesthetic, here is a pretty and practical way to dress them!

Old drawings

If you have old drawings, often the paper has yellowed or deteriorated. After scanning the drawing, it is possible to correct defects using editing software, then print on fabric to get a print with a renovated look!