As promised, I want to talk about my Spoonflower printed fabric order. The biggest piece I ordered I can’t show as it’s a surprise. I can tell you that it was printed on very white Kona cotton, unlike the greige base color of the samples I ordered.
First, Spoonflower gets the power of presentation. My order arrived promptly and was packaged like this.
The color card is actually printed on basic cotton. Now all I have to do is figure out how to use it.
The yard printed on Kona had a slight stiffness before I washed it. After I washed and dried it the surface still had a slight stickiness. When I ironed it, I found some of the color transferred to my iron. A more careful reading of laundry instructions revealed I was supposed to iron it on the wrong side.
I ordered four 8 by 8 inch sample swatches to test my designs and the fabrics available. The first one is printed on the basic cotton. The second one is printed on cotton poplin. My lesson learned here (and elsewhere) is to do a better job of editing my photos before sending them in. Of course the sample size means that any design repeats don’t show.
The basic cotton is just that. The Kona is heavier and thicker. The poplin is closely woven, but doesn’t offer any advantage that I could see for quilting.
Basic cotton
Cotton poplin
The next sample was printed on linen/cotton, and is my favorite. The fabric has a nice heft and would be good for bags, home dec, etc.
Cotton linen
Finally, I had a sample printed on silk crepe to see how the printing process affected the hand of the cloth. The silk remained supple and soft, so it would be good for making scarves.
silk crepe
Now that I’ve dabbled a bit in DIY fabric printing, I’m eager to correct my mistakes – either use crystal clear photos or really blur them; and size my image better to get a larger image printed. I think I’ll be looking at more online videos.
If you’ve gone through this process I’d love to hear about your experiences. My best learning has always been through my peeps.
The Snarky Quilter 
WOW just what I was searching for. Came here by searching for cute
fabrics design
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I’ve been very curious about Spoonflower so I’m following with interest!
I just found some books on using such fabric printing services through my local library. If they’re helpful I’ll write about them.
Thanks so much for sharing (most of) your fabric order. It is really nice to get your take on the process, results, and what you learned.Ordering samples is the best suggestion.
Another helpful idea would be to look at the fabrics designed by others. Presumably Spoonflower can do any of the effects you see. Of course, handiness with PhotoShop helps.