AboutConnie Hester Expertise Quilting and applique expert.Can advise on the following topics:quilting, art quilts, quilt design and construction, machine and hand quilting, paper foundation piecing, machine piecing, hand piecing, raw edge applique, turned-edge applique and fiber art.
Experience Winning awards in international fiber and art competitions since 1983; http://www.conniehester.com/
BS,MS
See my work and books at http://www.conniehester.com/
Expert: Connie Hester Date: 8/4/2006 Subject: printing photos on fabric
Question Hi Connie,
Sorry to keep bothering you on this topic. I am planning to make a project that will hang on the wall and can't be washed. Do you recommend some kind of a spray treatment that will help preserve it?
Thanks, Amy
Answer No problem, Amy!
Preserve it in what way exactly? By printing directly onto the fabric, rather than doing image transfers with acrylic medium, you are neither changing the hand/drape of the fabric nor looking forward to the acrylic cracking/crumbling in the future.
Also, by printing with Epson's pigment-based ink rather than HP dye-based ink, you will not experience the quick, inevitable fading associated with HP inks. I have experiemented with the UV sprays on the market and have found none that help retard the fading which accompanies dye-based inks.
Since you won't be washing or rubbing against the photos, you won't even need to spray a quick, F-I-N-E mist of clear spray paint over the photos, to prevent the "crocking" that can happen with pigment-based inks (since they sit on top of the fabric fibers rather than soaking through the fibers like dye-based inks do). This is a preventative step I do for clothing items or pieces which I know will get heavy use and/or washing in the washing machine.
